CASSELL'S NATIONAL LIBRARY. 

LETTERSWRITTEN_DURING A SHORT RESIDENCE_INSWEDEN, NORWAY, ANDDENMARK

BYMARY WOLLSTONECRAFT. 

CASSELL & COMPANY, Limited:_LONDON_, _PARIS_, _NEW YORK & MELBOURNE_. 1889. 

INTRODUCTION. 

Mary Wollstonecraft was born on the 27th of April, 1759. Her father--aquick-tempered and unsettled man, capable of beating wife, or child, ordog--was the son of a manufacturer who made money in Spitalfields, whenSpitalfields was prosperous. Her mother was a rigorous Irishwoman, ofthe Dixons of Ballyshannon. Edward John Wollstonecraft--of whosechildren, besides Mary, the second child, three sons and two daughterslived to be men and women--in course of the got rid of about ten thousandpounds, which had been left him by his father. He began to get rid of itby farming. Mary Wollstonecraft's first-remembered home was in a farm atEpping. When she was five years old the family moved to another farm, bythe Chelmsford Road. When she was between six and seven years old theymoved again, to the neighbourhood of Barking. There they remained threeyears before the next move, which was to a farm near Beverley, inYorkshire. In Yorkshire they remained six years, and Mary Wollstonecrafthad there what education fell to her lot between the ages of ten andsixteen. Edward John Wollstonecraft then gave up farming to venture upona commercial speculation. This caused him to live for a year and a halfat Queen's Row, Hoxton. His daughter Mary was then sixteen; and while atHoxton she had her education advanced by the friendly care of a deformedclergyman--a Mr. Clare--who lived next door, and stayed so much at homethat his one pair of shoes had lasted him for fourteen years. 

But Mary Wollstonecraft's chief friend at this time was an accomplishedgirl only two years older than herself, who maintained her father, mother, and family by skill in drawing. Her name was Frances Blood, andshe especially, by her example and direct instruction, drew out her youngfriend's powers. In 1776, Mary Wollstonecraft's father, a rolling stone, rolled into Wales. Again he was a farmer. Next year again he was aLondoner; and Mary had influence enough to persuade him to choose a houseat Walworth, where she would be near to her friend Fanny. Then, however, the conditions of her home life caused her to be often on the point ofgoing away to earn a living for herself. In 1778, when she was nineteen, Mary Wollstonecraft did leave home, to take a situation as companion witha rich tradesman's widow at Bath, of whom it was said that none of hercompanions could stay with her. Mary Wollstonecraft, nevertheless, stayed two years with the difficult widow, and made herself respected. Her mother's failing health then caused Mary to return to her. Thefather was then living at Enfield, and trying to save the small remainderof his means by not venturing upon any business at all. The mother diedafter long suffering, wholly dependent on her daughter Mary's constantcare. The mother's last words were often quoted by Mary Wollstonecraftin her own last years of distress--"A little patience, and all will beover. "

After the mother's death, Mary Wollstonecraft left home again, to livewith her friend, Fanny Blood, who was at Walham Green. In 1782 she wentto nurse a married sister through a dangerous illness. The father's needof support next pressed upon her. He had spent not only his own money, but also the little that had been specially reserved for his children. Itis said to be the privilege of a passionate man that he always gets whathe wants; he gets to be avoided, and they never find a convenient cornerof their own who shut themselves out from the kindly fellowship of life. 

In 1783 Mary Wollstonecraft--aged twenty-four--with two of her sisters, joined Fanny Blood in setting up a day school at Islington, which wasremoved in a few months to Newington Green. Early in 1785 Fanny Blood, far gone in consumption, sailed for Lisbon to marry an Irish surgeon whowas settled there. After her marriage it was evident that she had but afew months to live; Mary Wollstonecraft, deaf to all opposing counsel, then left her school, and, with help of money from a friendly woman, shewent out to nurse her, and was by her when she died. Mary Wollstonecraftremembered her loss ten years afterwards in these "Letters from Swedenand Norway, " when she wrote: "The grave has closed over a dear friend, the friend of my youth; still she is present with me, and I hear her softvoice warbling as I stray over the heath. "

Mary Wollstonecraft left Lisbon for England late in December, 1785. Whenshe came back she found Fanny's poor parents anxious to go back toIreland; and as she had been often told that she could earn by writing, she wrote a pamphlet of 162 small pages--"Thoughts on the Education ofDaughters"--and got ten pounds for it. This she gave to her friend'sparents to enable them to go back to their kindred. In all she did thereis clear evidence of an ardent, generous, impulsive nature. One day herfriend Fanny Blood had repined at the unhappy surroundings in the homeshe was maintaining for her father and mother, and longed for a littlehome of her own to do her work in. Her friend quietly found rooms, gotfurniture together, and told her that her little home was ready; she hadonly to walk into it. Then it seemed strange to Mary Wollstonecraft thatFanny Blood was withheld by thoughts that had not been uppermost in themood of complaint. She thought her friend irresolute, where she hadherself been generously rash. Her end would have been happier had shebeen helped, as many are, by that calm influence of home in which someknowledge of the world passes from father and mother to son and daughter, without visible teaching and preaching, in easiest companionship of youngand old from day to day. 

The little payment for her pamphlet on the "Education of Daughters"caused Mary Wollstonecraft to think more seriously of earning by her pen. The pamphlet seems also to have advanced her credit as a teacher. Aftergiving up her day school, she spent some weeks at Eton with the Rev. Mr. Prior, one of the masters there, who recommended her as governess to thedaughters of Lord Kingsborough, an Irish viscount, eldest son of the Earlof Kingston. Her way of teaching was by winning love, and she obtainedthe warm affection of the eldest of her pupils, who became afterwardsCountess Mount-Cashel. In the summer of 1787, Lord Kingsborough'sfamily, including Mary Wollstonecraft, was at Bristol Hot-wells, beforegoing to the Continent. While there, Mary Wollstonecraft wrote herlittle tale published as "Mary, a Fiction, " wherein there was much basedon the memory of her own friendship for Fanny Blood. 

The publisher of Mary Wollstonecraft's "Thoughts on the Education ofDaughters" was the same Joseph Johnson who in 1785 was the publisher ofCowper's "Task. " With her little story written and a little money saved, the resolve to live by her pen could now be carried out. MaryWollstonecraft, therefore, parted from her friends at Bristol, went toLondon, saw her publisher, and frankly told him her determination. Hemet her with fatherly kindness, and received her as a guest in his housewhile she was making her arrangements. At Michaelmas, 1787, she settledin a house in George Street, on the Surrey side of Blackfriars Bridge. There she produced a little book for children, of "Original Stories fromReal Life, " and earned by drudgery for Joseph Johnson. She translated, she abridged, she made a volume of Selections, and she wrote for an"Analytical Review, " which Mr. Johnson founded in the middle of the year1788. Among the books translated by her was Necker "On the Importance ofReligious Opinions. " Among the books abridged by her was Salzmann's"Elements of Morality. " With all this hard work she lived as sparely asshe could, that she might help her family. She supported her father. That she might enable her sisters to earn their living as teachers, shesent one of them to Paris, and maintained her there for two years; theother she placed in a school near London as parlour-boarder until she wasadmitted into it as a paid teacher. She placed one brother at Woolwichto qualify for the Navy, and he obtained a lieutenant's commission. Foranother brother, articled to an attorney whom he did not like, sheobtained a transfer of indentures; and when it became clear that hisquarrel was more with law than with the lawyers, she placed him with afarmer before fitting him out for emigration to America. She then senthim, so well prepared for his work there that he prospered well. Shetried even to disentangle her father's affairs; but the confusion in themwas beyond her powers of arrangement. Added to all this faithful work, she took upon herself the charge of an orphan child, seven years old, whose mother had been in the number of her friends. That was the life ofMary Wollstonecraft, thirty years old, in 1789, the year of the Fall ofthe Bastille; the noble life now to be touched in its enthusiasms by thespirit of the Revolution, to be caught in the great storm, shattered, andlost among its wrecks. 

To Burke's attack on the French Revolution Mary Wollstonecraft wrote anAnswer--one of many answers provoked by it--that attracted muchattention. This was followed by her "Vindication of the Rights ofWoman, " while the air was full of declamation on the "Rights of Man. " Theclaims made in this little book were in advance of the opinion of thatday, but they are claims that have in our day been conceded. They arecertainly not revolutionary in the opinion of the world that has become ahundred years older since the book was written. 

At this the Mary Wollstonecraft had moved to rooms in Store Street, Bedford Square. She was fascinated by Fuseli the painter, and he was amarried man. She felt herself to be too strongly drawn towards him, andshe went to Paris at the close of the year 1792, to break the spell. Shefelt lonely and sad, and was not the happier for being in a mansion lentto her, from which the owner was away, and in which she lived surroundedby his servants. Strong womanly instincts were astir within her, andthey were not all wise folk who had been drawn around her by her generousenthusiasm for the new hopes of the world, that made it then, asWordsworth felt, a very heaven to the young. 

Four months after she had gone to Paris, Mary Wollstonecraft met at thehouse of a merchant, with whose wife she had become intimate, an Americannamed Gilbert Imlay. He won her affections. That was in April, 1793. Hehad no means, and she had home embarrassments, for which she wasunwilling that he should become in any way responsible. A part of thenew dream in some minds then was of a love too pure to need or bear thebondage of authority. The mere forced union of marriage ties implied, itwas said, a distrust of fidelity. When Gilbert Imlay would have marriedMary Wollstonecraft, she herself refused to bind him; she would keep himlegally exempt from her responsibilities towards the father, sisters, brothers, whom she was supporting. She took his name and called herselfhis wife, when the French Convention, indignant at the conduct of theBritish Government, issue a decree from the effects of which she wouldescape as the wife of a citizen of the United States. But she did notmarry. She witnessed many of the horrors that came of the loosenedpassions of an untaught populace. A child was born to her--a girl whomshe named after the dead friend of her own girlhood. And then she foundthat she had leant upon a reed. She was neglected; and was at lastforsaken. Having sent her to London, Imlay there visited her, to explainhimself away. She resolved on suicide, and in dissuading her from thathe gave her hope again. He needed somebody who had good judgment, andwho cared for his interests, to represent him in some business affairs inNorway. She undertook to act for him, and set out on the voyage only aweek after she had determined to destroy herself. 

The interest of this book which describes her travel is quickened by aknowledge of the heart-sorrow that underlies it all. Gilbert Imlay hadpromised to meet her upon her return, and go with her to Switzerland. Butthe letters she had from him in Sweden and Norway were cold, and she cameback to find that she was wholly forsaken for an actress from a strollingcompany of players. Then she went up the river to drown herself. Shepaced the road at Putney on an October night, in 1795, in heavy rain, until her clothes were drenched, that she might sink more surely, andthen threw herself from the top of Putney Bridge. 

She was rescued, and lived on with deadened spirit. In 1796 these"Letters from Sweden and Norway" were published. Early in 1797 she wasmarried to William Godwin. On the 10th of September in the same year, atthe age of thirty-eight, Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin died, after the birthof the daughter who lived to become the wife of Shelley. The mother alsowould have lived, if a womanly feeling, in itself to be respected, hadnot led her also to unwise departure from the customs of the world. Peacebe to her memory. None but kind thoughts can dwell upon the life of thistoo faithful disciple of Rousseau. 

H. M. 

LETTER I. 

Eleven days of weariness on board a vessel not intended for theaccommodation of passengers have so exhausted my spirits, to say nothingof the other causes, with which you are already sufficiently acquainted, that it is with some difficulty I adhere to my determination of givingyou my observations, as I travel through new scenes, whilst warmed withthe impression they have made on me. 

The captain, as I mentioned to you, promised to put me on shore atArendall or Gothenburg in his way to Elsineur, but contrary winds obligedus to pass both places during the night. In the morning, however, afterwe had lost sight of the entrance of the latter bay, the vessel wasbecalmed; and the captain, to oblige me, hanging out a signal for apilot, bore down towards the shore. 

My attention was particularly directed to the lighthouse, and you canscarcely imagine with what anxiety I watched two long hours for a boat toemancipate me; still no one appeared. Every cloud that flitted on thehorizon was hailed as a liberator, till approaching nearer, like most ofthe prospects sketched by hope, it dissolved under the eye intodisappointment. 

Weary of expectation, I then began to converse with the captain on thesubject, and from the tenor of the information my questions drew forth Isoon concluded that if I waited for a boat I had little chance of gettingon shore at this place. Despotism, as is usually the case, I found hadhere cramped the industry of man. The pilots being paid by the king, andscantily, they will not run into any danger, or even quit their hovels, if they can possibly avoid it, only to fulfil what is termed their duty. How different is it on the English coast, where, in the most stormyweather, boats immediately hail you, brought out by the expectation ofextraordinary profit. 

Disliking to sail for Elsineur, and still more to lie at anchor or cruiseabout the coast for several days, I exerted all my rhetoric to prevail onthe captain to let me have the ship's boat, and though I added the mostforcible of arguments, I for a long the addressed him in vain. 

It is a kind of rule at sea not to send out a boat. The captain was agood-natured man; but men with common minds seldom break through generalrules. Prudence is ever the resort of weakness, and they rarely go asfar as they may in any undertaking who are determined not to go beyond iton any account. If, however, I had some trouble with the captain, I didnot lose much time with the sailors, for they, all alacrity, hoisted outthe boat the moment I obtained permission, and promised to row me to thelighthouse. 

I did not once allow myself to doubt of obtaining a conveyance fromthence round the rocks--and then away for Gothenburg--confinement is sounpleasant. 

The day was fine, and I enjoyed the water till, approaching the littleisland, poor Marguerite, whose timidity always acts as a feeler beforeher adventuring spirit, began to wonder at our not seeing anyinhabitants. I did not listen to her. But when, on landing, the samesilence prevailed, I caught the alarm, which was not lessened by thesight of two old men whom we forced out of their wretched hut. Scarcelyhuman in their appearance, we with difficulty obtained an intelligiblereply to our questions, the result of which was that they had no boat, and were not allowed to quit their post on any pretence. But theyinformed us that there was at the other side, eight or ten miles over, apilot's dwelling. Two guineas tempted the sailors to risk the captain'sdispleasure, and once more embark to row me over. 

The weather was pleasant, and the appearance of the shore so grand that Ishould have enjoyed the two hours it took to reach it, but for thefatigue which was too visible in the countenances of the sailors, who, instead of uttering a complaint, were, with the thoughtless hilaritypeculiar to them, joking about the possibility of the captain's takingadvantage of a slight westerly breeze, which was springing up, to sailwithout them. Yet, in spite of their good humour, I could not helpgrowing uneasy when the shore, receding, as it were, as we advanced, seemed to promise no end to their toil. This anxiety increased when, turning into the most picturesque bay I ever saw, my eyes sought in vainfor the vestige of a human habitation. Before I could determine whatstep to take in such a dilemma (for I could not bear to think ofreturning to the ship), the sight of a barge relieved me, and we hastenedtowards it for information. We were immediately directed to pass somejutting rocks, when we should see a pilot's hut. 

There was a solemn silence in this scene which made itself be felt. Thesunbeams that played on the ocean, scarcely ruffled by the lightestbreeze, contrasted with the huge dark rocks, that looked like the rudematerials of creation forming the barrier of unwrought space, forciblystruck me, but I should not have been sorry if the cottage had notappeared equally tranquil. Approaching a retreat where strangers, especially women, so seldom appeared, I wondered that curiosity did notbring the beings who inhabited it to the windows or door. I did notimmediately recollect that men who remain so near the brute creation, asonly to exert themselves to find the food necessary to sustain life, havelittle or no imagination to call forth the curiosity necessary tofructify the faint glimmerings of mind which entitle them to rank aslords of the creation. Had they either they could not contentedly remainrooted in the clods they so indolently cultivate. 

Whilst the sailors went to seek for the sluggish inhabitants, theseconclusions occurred to me; and, recollecting the extreme fondness whichthe Parisians ever testify for novelty, their very curiosity appeared tome a proof of the progress they had made in refinement. Yes, in the artof living--in the art of escaping from the cares which embarrass thefirst steps towards the attainment of the pleasures of social life. 

The pilots informed the sailors that they were under the direction of alieutenant retired from the service, who spoke English; adding that theycould do nothing without his orders, and even the offer of money couldhardly conquer their laziness and prevail on them to accompany us to hisdwelling. They would not go with me alone, which I wanted them to havedone, because I wished to dismiss the sailors as soon as possible. Oncemore we rowed off, they following tardily, till, turning round anotherbold protuberance of the rocks, we saw a boat making towards us, and soonlearnt that it was the lieutenant himself, coming with some earnestnessto see who we were. 

To save the sailors any further toil, I had my baggage instantly removedinto his boat; for, as he could speak English, a previous parley was notnecessary, though Marguerite's respect for me could hardly keep her fromexpressing the fear, strongly marked on her countenance, which my puttingourselves into the power of a strange man excited. He pointed out hiscottage; and, drawing near to it, I was not sorry to see a female figure, though I had not, like Marguerite, been thinking of robberies, murders, or the other evil which instantly, as the sailors would have said, runsfoul of a woman's imagination. 

On entering I was still better pleased to find a clean house, with somedegree of rural elegance. The beds were of muslin, coarse it is true, but dazzlingly white; and the floor was strewed over with little sprigsof juniper (the custom, as I afterwards found, of the country), whichformed a contrast with the curtains, and produced an agreeable sensationof freshness, to soften the ardour of noon. Still nothing was sopleasing as the alacrity of hospitality--all that the house afforded wasquickly spread on the whitest linen. Remember, I had just left thevessel, where, without being fastidious, I had continually beendisgusted. Fish, milk, butter, and cheese, and, I am sorry to add, brandy, the bane of this country, were spread on the board. After we haddined hospitality made them, with some degree of mystery, bring us someexcellent coffee. I did not then know that it was prohibited. 

The good man of the house apologised for coming in continually, butdeclared that he was so glad to speak English he could not stay out. Heneed not have apologised; I was equally glad of his company. With thewife I could only exchange smiles, and she was employed observing themake of our clothes. My hands, I found, had first led her to discoverthat I was the lady. I had, of course, my quantum of reverences; for thepoliteness of the north seems to partake of the coldness of the climateand the rigidity of its iron-sinewed rocks. Amongst the peasantry thereis, however, so much of the simplicity of the golden age in this land offlint--so much overflowing of heart and fellow-feeling, that onlybenevolence and the honest sympathy of nature diffused smiles over mycountenance when they kept me standing, regardless of my fatigue, whilstthey dropped courtesy after courtesy. 

The situation of this house was beautiful, though chosen for convenience. The master being the officer who commanded all the pilots on the coast, and the person appointed to guard wrecks, it was necessary for him to fixon a spot that would overlook the whole bay. As he had seen someservice, he wore, not without a pride I thought becoming, a badge toprove that he had merited well of his country. It was happy, I thought, that he had been paid in honour, for the stipend he received was littlemore than twelve pounds a year. I do not trouble myself or you with thecalculation of Swedish ducats. Thus, my friend, you perceive thenecessity of perquisites. This same narrow policy runs througheverything. I shall have occasion further to animadvert on it. 

Though my host amused me with an account of himself, which gave me aimidea of the manners of the people I was about to visit, I was eager toclimb the rocks to view the country, and see whether the honest tars hadregained their ship. With the help of the lieutenant's telescope, I sawthe vessel under way with a fair though gentle gale. The sea was calm, playful even as the most shallow stream, and on the vast basin I did notsee a dark speck to indicate the boat. My conductors were consequentlyarrived. 

Straying further, my eye was attracted by the sight of some heartseasethat peeped through the rocks. I caught at it as a good omen, and goingto preserve it in a letter that had not conveyed balm to my heart, acruel remembrance suffused my eyes; but it passed away like an Aprilshower. If you are deep read in Shakespeare, you will recollect thatthis was the little western flower tinged by love's dart, which "maidenscall love in idleness. " The gaiety of my babe was unmixed; regardless ofomens or sentiments, she found a few wild strawberries more grateful thanflowers or fancies. 

The lieutenant informed me that this was a commodious bay. Of that Icould not judge, though I felt its picturesque beauty. Rocks were piledon rocks, forming a suitable bulwark to the ocean. "Come no further, "they emphatically said, turning their dark sides to the waves to augmentthe idle roar. The view was sterile; still little patches of earth ofthe most exquisite verdure, enamelled with the sweetest wild flowers, seemed to promise the goats and a few straggling cows luxurious herbage. How silent and peaceful was the scene! I gazed around with rapture, andfelt more of that spontaneous pleasure which gives credibility to ourexpectation of happiness than I had for a long, long time before. Iforgot the horrors I had witnessed in France, which had cast a gloom overall nature, and suffering the enthusiasm of my character--too often, gracious God! damped by the tears of disappointed affection--to belighted up afresh, care took wing while simple fellow-feeling expanded myheart. 

To prolong this enjoyment, I readily assented to the proposal of our hostto pay a visit to a family, the master of which spoke English, who wasthe drollest dog in the country, he added, repeating some of his storieswith a hearty laugh. 

I walked on, still delighted with the rude beauties of the scene; for thesublime often gave place imperceptibly to the beautiful, dilating theemotions which were painfully concentrated. 

When we entered this abode, the largest I had yet seen, I was introducedto a numerous family; but the father, from whom I was led to expect somuch entertainment, was absent. The lieutenant consequently was obligedto be the interpreter of our reciprocal compliments. The phrases wereawkwardly transmitted, it is true; but looks and gestures were sufficientto make them intelligible and interesting. The girls were all vivacity, and respect for me could scarcely keep them from romping with my host, who, asking for a pinch of snuff, was presented with a box, out of whichan artificial mouse, fastened to the bottom, sprang. Though this trickhad doubtless been played the out of mind, yet the laughter it excitedwas not less genuine. 

They were overflowing with civility; but, to prevent their almost killingmy babe with kindness, I was obliged to shorten my visit; and two orthree of the girls accompanied us, bringing with them a part of whateverthe house afforded to contribute towards rendering my supper moreplentiful; and plentiful in fact it was, though I with difficulty didhonour to some of the dishes, not relishing the quantity of sugar andspices put into everything. At supper my host told me bluntly that I wasa woman of observation, for I asked him _men's questions_. 

The arrangements for my journey were quickly made. I could only have acar with post-horses, as I did not choose to wait till a carriage couldbe sent for to Gothenburg. The expense of my journey (about one or twoand twenty English miles) I found would not amount to more than eleven ortwelve shillings, paying, he assured me, generously. I gave him a guineaand a half. But it was with the greatest difficulty that I could makehim take so much--indeed anything--for my lodging and fare. He declaredthat it was next to robbing me, explaining how much I ought to pay on theroad. However, as I was positive, he took the guinea for himself; but, as a condition, insisted on accompanying me, to prevent my meeting withany trouble or imposition on the way. 

I then retired to my apartment with regret. The night was so fine that Iwould gladly have rambled about much longer, yet, recollecting that Imust rise very early, I reluctantly went to bed; but my senses had beenso awake, and my imagination still continued so busy, that I sought forrest in vain. Rising before six, I scented the sweet morning air; I hadlong before heard the birds twittering to hail the dawning day, though itcould scarcely have been allowed to have departed. 

Nothing, in fact, can equal the beauty of the northern summer's eveningand night, if night it may be called that only wants the glare of day, the full light which frequently seems so impertinent, for I could writeat midnight very well without a candle. I contemplated all Nature atrest; the rocks, even grown darker in their appearance, looked as if theypartook of the general repose, and reclined more heavily on theirfoundation. "What, " I exclaimed, "is this active principle which keepsme still awake? Why fly my thoughts abroad, when everything around meappears at home?" My child was sleeping with equal calmness--innocentand sweet as the closing flowers. Some recollections, attached to theidea of home, mingled with reflections respecting the state of society Ihad been contemplating that evening, made a tear drop on the rosy cheek Ihad just kissed, and emotions that trembled on the brink of ecstasy andagony gave a poignancy to my sensations which made me feel more alivethan usual. 

What are these imperious sympathies? How frequently has melancholy andeven misanthropy taken possession of me, when the world has disgusted me, and friends have proved unkind. I have then considered myself as aparticle broken off from the grand mass of mankind; I was alone, tillsome involuntary sympathetic emotion, like the attraction of adhesion, made me feel that I was still a part of a mighty whole, from which Icould not sever myself--not, perhaps, for the reflection has been carriedvery far, by snapping the thread of an existence, which loses its charmsin proportion as the cruel experience of life stops or poisons thecurrent of the heart. Futurity, what hast thou not to give to those whoknow that there is such a thing as happiness! I speak not ofphilosophical contentment, though pain has afforded them the strongestconviction of it. 

After our coffee and milk--for the mistress of the house had been rousedlong before us by her hospitality--my baggage was taken forward in a boatby my host, because the car could not safely have been brought to thehouse. 

The road at first was very rocky and troublesome, but our driver wascareful, and the horses accustomed to the frequent and sudden acclivitiesand descents; so that, not apprehending any danger, I played with mygirl, whom I would not leave to Marguerite's care, on account of hertimidity. 

Stopping at a little inn to bait the horses, I saw the first countenancein Sweden that displeased me, though the man was better dressed than anyone who had as yet fallen in my way. An altercation took place betweenhim and my host, the purport of which I could not guess, excepting that Iwas the occasion of it, be it what it would. The sequel was his leavingthe house angrily; and I was immediately informed that he was the custom-house officer. The professional had indeed effaced the nationalcharacter, for, living as he did within these frank hospitable people, still only the exciseman appeared, the counterpart of some I had met within England and France. I was unprovided with a passport, not havingentered any great town. At Gothenburg I knew I could immediately obtainone, and only the trouble made me object to the searching my trunks. Heblustered for money; but the lieutenant was determined to guard me, according to promise, from imposition. 

To avoid being interrogated at the town-gate, and obliged to go in therain to give an account of myself (merely a form) before we could get therefreshment we stood in need of, he requested us to descend--I might havesaid step--from our car, and walk into town. 

I expected to have found a tolerable inn, but was ushered into a mostcomfortless one; and, because it was about five o'clock, three or fourhours after their dining hour, I could not prevail on them to give meanything warm to eat. 

The appearance of the accommodations obliged me to deliver one of myrecommendatory letters, and the gentleman to whom it was addressed sentto look out for a lodging for me whilst I partook of his supper. Asnothing passed at this supper to characterise the country, I shall hereclose my letter. 

Yours truly. 

LETTER II. 

Gothenburg is a clean airy town, and, having been built by the Dutch, hascanals running through each street; and in some of them there are rows oftrees that would render it very pleasant were it not for the pavement, which is intolerably bad. 

There are several rich commercial houses--Scotch, French, and Swedish;but the Scotch, I believe, have been the most successful. The commerceand commission business with France since the war has been verylucrative, and enriched the merchants I am afraid at the expense of theother inhabitants, by raising the price of the necessaries of life. 

As all the men of consequence--I mean men of the largest fortune--aremerchants, their principal enjoyment is a relaxation from business at thetable, which is spread at, I think, too early an hour (between one andtwo) for men who have letters to write and accounts to settle afterpaying due respect to the bottle. 

However, when numerous circles are to be brought together, and whenneither literature nor public amusements furnish topics for conversation, a good dinner appears to be the only centre to rally round, especially asscandal, the zest of more select parties, can only be whispered. As forpolitics, I have seldom found it a subject of continual discussion in acountry town in any part of the world. The politics of the place, beingon a smaller scale, suits better with the size of their faculties; for, generally speaking, the sphere of observation determines the extent ofthe mind. 

The more I see of the world, the more I am convinced that civilisation isa blessing not sufficiently estimated by those who have not traced itsprogress; for it not only refines our enjoyments, but produces a varietywhich enables us to retain the primitive delicacy of our sensations. Without the aid of the imagination all the pleasures of the senses mustsink into grossness, unless continual novelty serve as a substitute forthe imagination, which, being impossible, it was to this weariness, Isuppose, that Solomon alluded when he declared that there was nothing newunder the sun!--nothing for the common sensations excited by the senses. Yet who will deny that the imagination and understanding have made many, very many discoveries since those days, which only seem harbingers ofothers still more noble and beneficial? I never met with muchimagination amongst people who had not acquired a habit of reflection;and in that state of society in which the judgment and taste are notcalled forth, and formed by the cultivation of the arts and sciences, little of that delicacy of feeling and thinking is to be foundcharacterised by the word sentiment. The want of scientific pursuitsperhaps accounts for the hospitality, as well as for the cordialreception which strangers receive from the inhabitants of small towns. 

Hospitality has, I think, been too much praised by travellers as a proofof goodness of heart, when, in my opinion, indiscriminate hospitality israther a criterion by which you may form a tolerable estimate of theindolence or vacancy of a head; or, in other words, a fondness for socialpleasures in which the mind not having its proportion of exercise, thebottle must be pushed about. 

These remarks are equally applicable to Dublin, the most hospitable cityI ever passed through. But I will try to confine my observations moreparticularly to Sweden. 

It is true I have only had a glance over a small part of it; yet of itspresent state of manners and acquirements I think I have formed adistinct idea, without having visited the capital--where, in fact, lessof a national character is to be found than in the remote parts of thecountry. 

The Swedes pique themselves on their politeness; but far from being thepolish of a cultivated mind, it consists merely of tiresome forms andceremonies. So far, indeed, from entering immediately into yourcharacter, and making you feel instantly at your ease, like the well-bredFrench, their over-acted civility is a continual restraint on all youractions. The sort of superiority which a fortune gives when there is nosuperiority of education, excepting what consists in the observance ofsenseless forms, has a contrary effect than what is intended; so that Icould not help reckoning the peasantry the politest people of Sweden, who, only aiming at pleasing you, never think of being admired for theirbehaviour. 

Their tables, like their compliments, seem equally a caricature of theFrench. The dishes are composed, as well as theirs, of a variety ofmixtures to destroy the native taste of the food without being asrelishing. Spices and sugar are put into everything, even into thebread; and the only way I can account for their partiality tohigh-seasoned dishes is the constant use of salted provisions. Necessityobliges them to lay up a store of dried fish and salted meat for thewinter; and in summer, fresh meat and fish taste insipid after them. Towhich may be added the constant use of spirits. Every day, before dinnerand supper, even whilst the dishes are cooling on the table, men andwomen repair to a side-table; and to obtain an appetite eat bread-and-butter, cheese, raw salmon, or anchovies, drinking a glass of brandy. Salt fish or meat then immediately follows, to give a further whet to thestomach. As the dinner advances, pardon me for taking up a few minutesto describe what, alas! has detained me two or three hours on the stretchobserving, dish after dish is changed, in endless rotation, and handedround with solemn pace to each guest; but should you happen not to likethe first dishes, which was often my case, it is a gross breach ofpoliteness to ask for part of any other till its turn comes. But havepatience, and there will be eating enough. Allow me to run over the actsof a visiting day, not overlooking the interludes. 

Prelude a luncheon--then a succession of fish, flesh, and fowl for twohours, during which time the dessert--I was sorry for the strawberriesand cream--rests on the table to be impregnated by the fumes of theviands. Coffee immediately follows in the drawing-room, but does notpreclude punch, ale, tea and cakes, raw salmon, &c. A supper brings upthe rear, not forgetting the introductory luncheon, almost equalling inremoves the dinner. A day of this kind you would imagine sufficient; buta to-morrow and a to-morrow--A never-ending, still-beginning feast may bebearable, perhaps, when stern winter frowns, shaking with chilling aspecthis hoary locks; but during a summer, sweet as fleeting, let me, my kindstrangers, escape sometimes into your fir groves, wander on the margin ofyour beautiful lakes, or climb your rocks, to view still others inendless perspective, which, piled by more than giant's hand, scale theheavens to intercept its rays, or to receive the parting tinge oflingering day--day that, scarcely softened unto twilight, allows thefreshening breeze to wake, and the moon to burst forth in all her gloryto glide with solemn elegance through the azure expanse. 

The cow's bell has ceased to tinkle the herd to rest; they have all pacedacross the heath. Is not this the witching time of night? The watersmurmur, and fall with more than mortal music, and spirits of peace walkabroad to calm the agitated breast. Eternity is in these moments. Worldly cares melt into the airy stuff that dreams are made of, andreveries, mild and enchanting as the first hopes of love or therecollection of lost enjoyment, carry the hapless wight into futurity, who in bustling life has vainly strove to throw off the grief which liesheavy at the heart. Good night! A crescent hangs out in the vaultbefore, which woos me to stray abroad. It is not a silvery reflection ofthe sun, but glows with all its golden splendour. Who fears the fallendew? It only makes the mown grass smell more fragrant. Adieu!

LETTER III. 

The population of Sweden has been estimated from two millions and a halfto three millions; a small number for such an immense tract of country, of which only so much is cultivated--and that in the simplest manner--asis absolutely requisite to supply the necessaries of life; and near theseashore, whence herrings are easily procured, there scarcely appears avestige of cultivation. The scattered huts that stand shivering on thenaked rocks, braving the pitiless elements, are formed of logs of woodrudely hewn; and so little pains are taken with the craggy foundationthat nothing hike a pathway points out the door. 

Gathered into himself by the cold, lowering his visage to avoid thecutting blast, is it surprising that the churlish pleasure of drinkingdrams takes place of social enjoyments amongst the poor, especially if wetake into the account that they mostly live on high-seasoned provisionand rye bread? Hard enough, you may imagine, as it is baked only once ayear. The servants also, in most families, eat this kind of bread, andhave a different kind of food from their masters, which, in spite of allthe arguments I have heard to vindicate the custom, appears to me aremnant of barbarism. 

In fact, the situation of the servants in every respect, particularlythat of the women, shows how far the Swedes are from having a justconception of rational equality. They are not termed slaves; yet a manmay strike a man with impunity because he pays him wages, though thesewages are so low that necessity must teach them to pilfer, whilstservility renders them false and boorish. Still the men stand up for thedignity of man by oppressing the women. The most menial, and evenlaborious offices, are therefore left to these poor drudges. Much ofthis I have seen. In the winter, I am told, they take the linen down tothe river to wash it in the cold water, and though their hands, cut bythe ice, are cracked and bleeding, the men, their fellow-servants, willnot disgrace their manhood by carrying a tub to lighten their burden. 

You will not be surprised to hear that they do not wear shoes orstockings, when I inform you that their wages are seldom more than twentyor thirty shillings per annum. It is the custom, I know, to give them anew year's gift and a present at some other period, but can it all amountto a just indemnity for their labour? The treatment of servants in mostcountries, I grant, is very unjust, and in England, that boasted land offreedom, it is often extremely tyrannical. I have frequently, withindignation, heard gentlemen declare that they would never allow aservant to answer them; and ladies of the most exquisite sensibility, whowere continually exclaiming against the cruelty of the vulgar to thebrute creation, have in my presence forgot that their attendants hadhuman feelings as well as forms. I do not know a more agreeable sightthan to see servants part of a family. By taking an interest, generallyspeaking, in their concerns you inspire them with one for yours. We mustlove our servants, or we shall never be sufficiently attentive to theirhappiness; and how can those masters be attentive to their happiness who, living above their fortunes, are more anxious to outshine theirneighbours than to allow their household the innocent enjoyments theyearn?

It is, in fact, much more difficult for servants, who are tantalised byseeing and preparing the dainties of which they are not to partake, toremain honest, than the poor, whose thoughts are not led from theirhomely fare; so that, though the servants here are commonly thieves, youseldom hear of housebreaking, or robbery on the highway. The country is, perhaps, too thinly inhabited to produce many of that description ofthieves termed footpads, or highwaymen. They are usually the spawn ofgreat cities--the effect of the spurious desires generated by wealth, rather than the desperate struggles of poverty to escape from misery. 

The enjoyment of the peasantry was drinking brandy and coffee, before thelatter was prohibited, and the former not allowed to be privatelydistilled, the wars carried on by the late king rendering it necessary toincrease the revenue, and retain the specie in the country by everypossible means. 

The taxes before the reign of Charles XII. Were inconsiderable. Sincethen the burden has continually been growing heavier, and the price ofprovisions has proportionately increased--nay, the advantage accruingfrom the exportation of corn to France and rye to Germany will probablyproduce a scarcity in both Sweden and Norway, should not a peace put astop to it this autumn, for speculations of various kinds have alreadyalmost doubled the price. 

Such are the effects of war, that it saps the vitals even of the neutralcountries, who, obtaining a sudden influx of wealth, appear to berendered flourishing by the destruction which ravages the hapless nationswho are sacrificed to the ambition of their governors. I shall not, however, dwell on the vices, though they be of the most contemptible andembruting cast, to which a sudden accession of fortune gives birth, because I believe it may be delivered as an axiom, that it is only inproportion to the industry necessary to acquire wealth that a nation isreally benefited by it. 

The prohibition of drinking coffee under a penalty, and the encouragementgiven to public distilleries, tend to impoverish the poor, who are notaffected by the sumptuary laws; for the regent has lately laid verysevere restraints on the articles of dress, which the middling class ofpeople found grievous, because it obliged them to throw aside finery thatmight have lasted them for their lives. 

These may be termed vexatious; still the death of the king, by savingthem from the consequences his ambition would naturally have entailed onthem, may be reckoned a blessing. 

Besides, the French Revolution has not only rendered all the crownedheads more cautious, but has so decreased everywhere (excepting amongstthemselves) a respect for nobility, that the peasantry have not only losttheir blind reverence for their seigniors, but complain in a manly styleof oppressions which before they did not think of denominating such, because they were taught to consider themselves as a different order ofbeings. And, perhaps, the efforts which the aristocrats are making here, as well as in every other part of Europe, to secure their sway, will bethe most effectual mode of undermining it, taking into the calculationthat the King of Sweden, like most of the potentates of Europe, hascontinually been augmenting his power by encroaching on the privileges ofthe nobles. 

The well-bred Swedes of the capital are formed on the ancient Frenchmodel, and they in general speak that language; for they have a knack atacquiring languages with tolerable fluency. This may be reckoned anadvantage in some respects; but it prevents the cultivation of their own, and any considerable advance in literary pursuits. 

A sensible writer has lately observed (I have not his work by me, therefore cannot quote his exact words), "That the Americans very wiselylet the Europeans make their books and fashions for them. " But I cannotcoincide with him in this opinion. The reflection necessary to produce acertain number even of tolerable productions augments more than he isaware of the mass of knowledge in the community. Desultory reading iscommonly a mere pastime. But we must have an object to refer ourreflections to, or they will seldom go below the surface. As intravelling, the keeping of a journal excites to many useful inquiriesthat would not have been thought of had the traveller only determined tosee all he could see, without ever asking himself for what purpose. Besides, the very dabbling in literature furnishes harmless topics ofconversation; for the not having such subjects at hand, though they areoften insupportably fatiguing, renders the inhabitants of little townsprying and censorious. Idleness, rather than ill-nature, gives birth toscandal, and to the observation of little incidents which narrows themind. It is frequently only the fear of being talked of which producesthat puerile scrupulosity about trifles incompatible with an enlargedplan of usefulness, and with the basis of all moral principles--respectfor the virtues which are not merely the virtues of convention. 

I am, my friend, more and more convinced that a metropolis, or an abodeabsolutely solitary, is the best calculated for the improvement of theheart, as well as the understanding; whether we desire to becomeacquainted with man, nature, or ourselves. Mixing with mankind, we areobliged to examine our prejudices, and often imperceptibly lose, as weanalyse them. And in the country, growing intimate with nature, athousand little circumstances, unseen by vulgar eyes, give birth tosentiments dear to the imagination, and inquiries which expand the soul, particularly when cultivation has not smoothed into insipidity all itsoriginality of character. 

I love the country, yet whenever I see a picturesque situation chosen onwhich to erect a dwelling I am always afraid of the improvements. Itrequires uncommon taste to form a whole, and to introduce accommodationsand ornaments analogous with the surrounding-scene. 

It visited, near Gothenburg, a house with improved land about it, withwhich I was particularly delighted. It was close to a lake embosomed inpine-clad rocks. In one part of the meadows your eye was directed to thebroad expanse, in another you were led into a shade, to see a part of it, in the form of a river, rush amongst the fragments of rocks and roots oftrees; nothing seemed forced. One recess, particularly grand and solemnamongst the towering cliffs, had a rude stone table and seat placed init, that might have served for a Druid's haunt, whilst a placid streambelow enlivened the flowers on its margin, where light-footed elves wouldgladly have danced their airy rounds. 

Here the hand of taste was conspicuous though not obtrusive, and formed acontrast with another abode in the same neighbourhood, on which muchmoney had been lavished; where Italian colonnades were placed to excitethe wonder of the rude crags, and a stone staircase, to threaten withdestruction a wooden house. Venuses and Apollos condemned to lie hid insnow three parts of the year seemed equally displaced, and called theattention off from the surrounding sublimity, without inspiring anyvoluptuous sensations. Yet even these abortions of vanity have beenuseful. Numberless workmen have been employed, and the superintendingartist has improved the labourers, whose unskilfulness tormented him, byobliging them to submit to the discipline of rules. Adieu!

Yours affectionately. 

LETTER IV. 

The severity of the long Swedish winter tends to render the peoplesluggish, for though this season has its peculiar pleasures, too muchtime is employed to guard against its inclemency. Still as warm clothingis absolutely necessary, the women spin and the men weave, and by theseexertions get a fence to keep out the cold. I have rarely passed a knotof cottages without seeing cloth laid out to bleach, and when I entered, always found the women spinning or knitting. 

A mistaken tenderness, however, for their children, makes them even insummer load them with flannels, and having a sort of natural antipathy tocold water, the squalid appearance of the poor babes, not to speak of thenoxious smell which flannel and rugs retain, seems a reply to a questionI had often asked--Why I did not see more children in the villages Ipassed through? Indeed the children appear to be nipt in the bud, havingneither the graces nor charms of their age. And this, I am persuaded, ismuch more owing to the ignorance of the mothers than to the rudeness ofthe climate. Rendered feeble by the continual perspiration they are keptin, whilst every pore is absorbing unwholesome moisture, they give them, even at the breast, brandy, salt fish, and every other crude substancewhich air and exercise enables the parent to digest. 

The women of fortune here, as well as everywhere else, have nurses tosuckle their children; and the total want of chastity in the lower classof women frequently renders them very unfit for the trust. 

You have sometimes remarked to me the difference of the manners of thecountry girls in England and in America; attributing the reserve of theformer to the climate--to the absence of genial suns. But it must betheir stars, not the zephyrs, gently stealing on their senses, which herelead frail women astray. Who can look at these rocks, and allow thevoluptuousness of nature to be an excuse for gratifying the desires itinspires? We must therefore, find some other cause besidevoluptuousness, I believe, to account for the conduct of the Swedish andAmerican country girls; for I am led to conclude, from all theobservations I have made, that there is always a mixture of sentiment andimagination in voluptuousness, to which neither of them have muchpretension. 

The country girls of Ireland and Wales equally feel the first impulse ofnature, which, restrained in England by fear or delicacy, proves thatsociety is there in a more advanced state. Besides, as the mind iscultivated, and taste gains ground, the passions become stronger, andrest on something more stable than the casual sympathies of the moment. Health and idleness will always account for promiscuous amours; and insome degree I term every person idle, the exercise of whose mind does notbear some proportion to that of the body. 

The Swedish ladies exercise neither sufficiently; of course, grow veryfat at an early age; and when they have not this downy appearance, acomfortable idea, you will say, in a cold climate, they are notremarkable for fine forms. They have, however, mostly fine complexions;but indolence makes the lily soon displace the rose. The quantity ofcoffee, spices, and other things of that kind, with want of care, almostuniversally spoil their teeth, which contrast but ill with their rubylips. 

The manners of Stockholm are refined, I hear, by the introduction ofgallantry; but in the country, romping and coarse freedoms, with coarserallusions, keep the spirits awake. In the article of cleanliness, thewomen of all descriptions seem very deficient; and their dress shows thatvanity is more inherent in women than taste. 

The men appear to have paid still less court to the graces. They are arobust, healthy race, distinguished for their common sense and turn forhumour, rather than for wit or sentiment. I include not, as you maysuppose, in this general character, some of the nobility and officers, who having travelled, are polite and well informed. 

I must own to you that the lower class of people here amuse and interestme much more than the middling, with their apish good breeding andprejudices. The sympathy and frankness of heart conspicuous in thepeasantry produces even a simple gracefulness of deportment which hasfrequently struck me as very picturesque; I have often also been touchedby their extreme desire to oblige me, when I could not explain my wants, and by their earnest manner of expressing that desire. There is such acharm in tenderness! It is so delightful to love our fellow-creatures, and meet the honest affections as they break forth. Still, my goodfriend, I begin to think that I should not like to live continually inthe country with people whose minds have such a narrow range. My heartwould frequently be interested; but my mind would languish for morecompanionable society. 

The beauties of nature appear to me now even more alluring than in myyouth, because my intercourse with the world has formed without vitiatingmy taste. But, with respect to the inhabitants of the country, my fancyhas probably, when disgusted with artificial manners, solaced itself byjoining the advantages of cultivation with the interesting sincerity ofinnocence, forgetting the lassitude that ignorance will naturallyproduce. I like to see animals sporting, and sympathise in their painsand pleasures. Still I love sometimes to view the human face divine, andtrace the soul, as well as the heart, in its varying lineaments. 

A journey to the country, which I must shortly make, will enable me toextend my remarks. --Adieu!

LETTER V. 

Had I determined to travel in Sweden merely for pleasure, I shouldprobably have chosen the road to Stockholm, though convinced, by repeatedobservation, that the manners of a people are best discriminated in thecountry. The inhabitants of the capital are all of the same genus; forthe varieties in the species we must, therefore, search where thehabitations of men are so separated as to allow the difference of climateto have its natural effect. And with this difference we are, perhaps, most forcibly struck at the first view, just as we form an estimate ofthe leading traits of a character at the first glance, of which intimacyafterwards makes us almost lose sight. 

As my affairs called me to Stromstad (the frontier town of Sweden) in myway to Norway, I was to pass over, I heard, the most uncultivated part ofthe country. Still I believe that the grand features of Sweden are thesame everywhere, and it is only the grand features that admit ofdescription. There is an individuality in every prospect, which remainsin the memory as forcibly depicted as the particular features that havearrested our attention; yet we cannot find words to discriminate thatindividuality so as to enable a stranger to say, this is the face, thatthe view. We may amuse by setting the imagination to work; but we cannotstore the memory with a fact. 

As I wish to give you a general idea of this country, I shall continue inmy desultory manner to make such observations and reflections as thecircumstances draw forth, without losing time, by endeavouring to arrangethem. 

Travelling in Sweden is very cheap, and even commodious, if you make butthe proper arrangements. Here, as in other parts of the Continent, it isnecessary to have your own carriage, and to have a servant who can speakthe language, if you are unacquainted with it. Sometimes a servant whocan drive would be found very useful, which was our case, for I travelledin company with two gentlemen, one of whom had a German servant who drovevery well. This was all the party; for not intending to make a longstay, I left my little girl behind me. 

As the roads are not much frequented, to avoid waiting three or fourhours for horses, we sent, as is the constant custom, an _avant courier_the night before, to order them at every post, and we constantly foundthem ready. Our first set I jokingly termed requisition horses; butafterwards we had almost always little spirited animals that went on at around pace. 

The roads, making allowance for the ups and downs, are uncommonly goodand pleasant. The expense, including the postillions and otherincidental things, does not amount to more than a shilling the Swedishmile. 

The inns are tolerable; but not liking the rye bread, I found itnecessary to furnish myself with some wheaten before I set out. Thebeds, too, were particularly disagreeable to me. It seemed to me that Iwas sinking into a grave when I entered them; for, immersed in downplaced in a sort of box, I expected to be suffocated before morning. Thesleeping between two down beds--they do so even in summer--must be veryunwholesome during any season; and I cannot conceive how the people canbear it, especially as the summers are very warm. But warmth they seemnot to feel; and, I should think, were afraid of the air, by alwayskeeping their windows shut. In the winter, I am persuaded, I could notexist in rooms thus closed up, with stoves heated in their manner, forthey only put wood into them twice a day; and, when the stove isthoroughly heated, they shut the flue, not admitting any air to renew itselasticity, even when the rooms are crowded with company. These stovesare made of earthenware, and often in a form that ornaments an apartment, which is never the case with the heavy iron ones I have seen elsewhere. Stoves may be economical, but I like a fire, a wood one, in preference;and I am convinced that the current of air which it attracts renders thisthe best mode of warming rooms. 

We arrived early the second evening at a little village called Quistram, where we had determined to pass the night, having been informed that weshould not afterwards find a tolerable inn until we reached Stromstad. 

Advancing towards Quistram, as the sun was beginning to decline, I wasparticularly impressed by the beauty of the situation. The road was onthe declivity of a rocky mountain, slightly covered with a mossy herbageand vagrant firs. At the bottom, a river, straggling amongst therecesses of stone, was hastening forward to the ocean and its grey rocks, of which we had a prospect on the left; whilst on the right it stolepeacefully forward into the meadows, losing itself in a thickly-woodedrising ground. As we drew near, the loveliest banks of wild flowersvariegated the prospect, and promised to exhale odours to add to thesweetness of the air, the purity of which you could almost see, alas! notsmell, for the putrefying herrings, which they use as manure, after theoil has been extracted, spread over the patches of earth, claimed bycultivation, destroyed every other. 

It was intolerable, and entered with us into the inn, which was in otherrespects a charming retreat. 

Whilst supper was preparing I crossed the bridge, and strolled by theriver, listening to its murmurs. Approaching the bank, the beauty ofwhich had attracted my attention in the carriage, I recognised many of myold acquaintance growing with great luxuriance. 

Seated on it, I could not avoid noting an obvious remark. Swedenappeared to me the country in the world most proper to form the botanistand natural historian; every object seemed to remind me of the creationof things, of the first efforts of sportive nature. When a countryarrives at a certain state of perfection, it looks as if it were made so;and curiosity is not excited. Besides, in social life too many objectsoccur for any to be distinctly observed by the generality of mankind; yeta contemplative man, or poet, in the country--I do not mean the countryadjacent to cities--feels and sees what would escape vulgar eyes, anddraws suitable inferences. This train of reflections might have led mefurther, in every sense of the word; but I could not escape from thedetestable evaporation of the herrings, which poisoned all my pleasure. 

After making a tolerable supper--for it is not easy to get freshprovisions on the road--I retired, to be lulled to sleep by the murmuringof a stream, of which I with great difficulty obtained sufficient toperform my daily ablutions. 

The last battle between the Danes and Swedes, which gave new life totheir ancient enmity, was fought at this place 1788; only seventeen oreighteen were killed, for the great superiority of the Danes andNorwegians obliged the Swedes to submit; but sickness, and a scarcity ofprovision, proved very fatal to their opponents on their return. 

It would be very easy to search for the particulars of this engagement inthe publications of the day; but as this manner of filling my pages doesnot come within my plan, I probably should not have remarked that thebattle was fought here, were it not to relate an anecdote which I hadfrom good authority. 

I noticed, when I first mentioned this place to you, that we descended asteep before we came to the inn; an immense ridge of rocks stretching outon one side. The inn was sheltered under them; and about a hundred yardsfrom it was a bridge that crossed the river, the murmurs of which I havecelebrated; it was not fordable. The Swedish general received orders tostop at the bridge and dispute the passage--a most advantageous post foran army so much inferior in force; but the influence of beauty is notconfined to courts. The mistress of the inn was handsome; when I saw herthere were still some remains of beauty; and, to preserve her house, thegeneral gave up the only tenable station. He was afterwards broke forcontempt of orders. 

Approaching the frontiers, consequently the sea, nature resumed an aspectruder and ruder, or rather seemed the bones of the world waiting to beclothed with everything necessary to give life and beauty. Still it wassublime. 

The clouds caught their hue of the rocks that menaced them. The sunappeared afraid to shine, the birds ceased to sing, and the flowers tobloom; but the eagle fixed his nest high amongst the rocks, and thevulture hovered over this abode of desolation. The farm houses, in whichonly poverty resided, were formed of logs scarcely keeping off the coldand drifting snow: out of them the inhabitants seldom peeped, and thesports or prattling of children was neither seen or heard. The currentof life seemed congealed at the source: all were not frozen, for it wassummer, you remember; but everything appeared so dull that I waited tosee ice, in order to reconcile me to the absence of gaiety. 

The day before, my attention had frequently been attracted by the wildbeauties of the country we passed through. 

The rocks which tossed their fantastic heads so high were often coveredwith pines and firs, varied in the most picturesque manner. Little woodsfilled up the recesses when forests did not darken the scene, and valleysand glens, cleared of the trees, displayed a dazzling verdure whichcontrasted with the gloom of the shading pines. The eye stole into manya covert where tranquillity seemed to have taken up her abode, and thenumber of little lakes that continually presented themselves added to thepeaceful composure of the scenery. The little cultivation which appeareddid not break the enchantment, nor did castles rear their turrets aloftto crush the cottages, and prove that man is more savage than the nativesof the woods. I heard of the bears but never saw them stalk forth, whichI was sorry for; I wished to have seen one in its wild state. In thewinter, I am told, they sometimes catch a stray cow, which is a heavyloss to the owner. 

The farms are small. Indeed most of the houses we saw on the roadindicated poverty, or rather that the people could just live. Towardsthe frontiers they grew worse and worse in their appearance, as if notwilling to put sterility itself out of countenance. No gardens smiledround the habitations, not a potato or cabbage to eat with the fishdrying on a stick near the door. A little grain here and there appeared, the long stalks of which you might almost reckon. The day was gloomywhen we passed over this rejected spot, the wind bleak, and winter seemedto be contending with nature, faintly struggling to change the season. Surely, thought I, if the sun ever shines here it cannot warm thesestones; moss only cleaves to them, partaking of their hardness, andnothing like vegetable life appears to cheer with hope the heart. 

So far from thinking that the primitive inhabitants of the world lived ina southern climate where Paradise spontaneously arose, I am led to infer, from various circumstances, that the first dwelling of man happened to bea spot like this which led him to adore a sun so seldom seen; for thisworship, which probably preceded that of demons or demigods, certainlynever began in a southern climate, where the continual presence of thesun prevented its being considered as a good; or rather the want of itnever being felt, this glorious luminary would carelessly have diffusedits blessings without being hailed as a benefactor. Man must thereforehave been placed in the north, to tempt him to run after the sun, inorder that the different parts of the earth might be peopled. Nor do Iwonder that hordes of barbarians always poured out of these regions toseek for milder climes, when nothing like cultivation attached them tothe soil, especially when we take into the view that the adventuringspirit, common to man, is naturally stronger and more general during theinfancy of society. The conduct of the followers of Mahomet, and thecrusaders, will sufficiently corroborate my assertion. 

Approaching nearer to Stromstad, the appearance of the town proved to bequite in character with the country we had just passed through. Ihesitated to use the word country, yet could not find another; still itwould sound absurd to talk of fields of rocks. 

The town was built on and under them. Three or four weather-beaten treeswere shrinking from the wind, and the grass grew so sparingly that Icould not avoid thinking Dr. Johnson's hyperbolical assertion "that theman merited well of his country who made a few blades of grass grow wherethey never grew before, " might here have been uttered with strictpropriety. The steeple likewise towered aloft, for what is a church, even amongst the Lutherans, without a steeple? But to prevent mischiefin such an exposed situation, it is wisely placed on a rock at somedistance not to endanger the roof of the church. 

Rambling about, I saw the door open, and entered, when to my greatsurprise I found the clergyman reading prayers, with only the clerkattending. I instantly thought of Swift's "Dearly beloved Roger, " but oninquiry I learnt that some one had died that morning, and in Sweden it iscustomary to pray for the dead. 

The sun, who I suspected never dared to shine, began now to convince methat he came forth only to torment; for though the wind was stillcutting, the rocks became intolerably warm under my feet, whilst theherring effluvia, which I before found so very offensive, once moreassailed me. I hastened back to the house of a merchant, the littlesovereign of the place, because he was by far the richest, though not themayor. 

Here we were most hospitably received, and introduced to a very fine andnumerous family. I have before mentioned to you the lilies of the north, I might have added, water lilies, for the complexion of many, even of theyoung women, seem to be bleached on the bosom of snow. But in thisyouthful circle the roses bloomed with all their wonted freshness, and Iwondered from whence the fire was stolen which sparkled in their fineblue eyes. 

Here we slept; and I rose early in the morning to prepare for my littlevoyage to Norway. I had determined to go by water, and was to leave mycompanions behind; but not getting a boat immediately, and the wind beinghigh and unfavourable, I was told that it was not safe to go to seaduring such boisterous weather; I was, therefore, obliged to wait for themorrow, and had the present day on my hands, which I feared would beirksome, because the family, who possessed about a dozen French wordsamongst them and not an English phrase, were anxious to amuse me, andwould not let me remain alone in my room. The town we had already walkedround and round, and if we advanced farther on the coast, it was still toview the same unvaried immensity of water surrounded by barrenness. 

The gentlemen, wishing to peep into Norway, proposed going toFredericshall, the first town--the distance was only three Swedish miles. There and back again was but a day's journey, and would not, I thought, interfere with my voyage. I agreed, and invited the eldest and prettiestof the girls to accompany us. I invited her because I like to see abeautiful face animated by pleasure, and to have an opportunity ofregarding the country, whilst the gentlemen were amusing themselves withher. 

I did not know, for I had not thought of it, that we were to scale someof the most mountainous cliffs of Sweden in our way to the ferry whichseparates the two countries. 

Entering amongst the cliffs, we were sheltered from the wind, warmsunbeams began to play, streams to flow, and groves of pines diversifiedthe rocks. Sometimes they became suddenly bare and sublime. Once, inparticular, after mounting the most terrific precipice, we had to passthrough a tremendous defile, where the closing chasm seemed to threatenus with instant destruction, when, turning quickly, verdant meadows and abeautiful lake relieved and charmed my eyes. 

I had never travelled through Switzerland, but one of my companionsassured me that I should not there find anything superior, if equal, tothe wild grandeur of these views. 

As we had not taken this excursion into our plan, the horses had not beenpreviously ordered, which obliged us to wait two hours at the first post. The day was wearing away. The road was so bad that walking up theprecipices consumed the time insensibly; but as we desired horses at eachpost ready at a certain hour, we reckoned on returning more speedily. 

We stopped to dine at a tolerable farm; they brought us out ham, butter, cheese, and milk, and the charge was so moderate that I scattered alittle money amongst the children who were peeping at us, in order to paythem for their trouble. 

Arrived at the ferry, we were still detained, for the people who attendat the ferries have a stupid kind of sluggishness in their manner, whichis very provoking when you are in haste. At present I did not feel it, for, scrambling up the cliffs, my eye followed the river as it rolledbetween the grand rocky banks; and, to complete the scenery, they werecovered with firs and pines, through which the wind rustled as if it werelulling itself to sleep with the declining sun. 

Behold us now in Norway; and I could not avoid feeling surprise atobserving the difference in the manners of the inhabitants of the twosides of the river, for everything shows that the Norwegians are moreindustrious and more opulent. The Swedes (for neighbours are seldom thebest friends) accuse the Norwegians of knavery, and they retaliate bybringing a charge of hypocrisy against the Swedes. Local circumstancesprobably render both unjust, speaking from their feelings rather thanreason; and is this astonishing when we consider that most writers oftravels have done the same, whose works have served as materials for thecompilers of universal histories? All are eager to give a nationalcharacter, which is rarely just, because they do not discriminate thenatural from the acquired difference. The natural, I believe, on dueconsideration, will be found to consist merely in the degree of vivacity, or thoughtfulness, pleasures or pain, inspired by the climate, whilst thevarieties which the forms of government, including religion, produce aremuch more numerous and unstable. 

A people have been characterised as stupid by nature; what a paradox!because they did not consider that slaves, having no object to stimulateindustry; have not their faculties sharpened by the only thing that canexercise them, self-interest. Others have been brought forward asbrutes, having no aptitude for the arts and sciences, only because theprogress of improvement had not reached that stage which produces them. 

Those writers who have considered the history of man, or of the humanmind, on a more enlarged scale have fallen into similar errors, notreflecting that the passions are weak where the necessaries of life aretoo hardly or too easily obtained. 

Travellers who require that every nation should resemble their nativecountry, had better stay at home. It is, for example, absurd to blame apeople for not having that degree of personal cleanliness and elegance ofmanners which only refinement of taste produces, and will produceeverywhere in proportion as society attains a general polish. The mostessential service, I presume, that authors could render to society, wouldbe to promote inquiry and discussion, instead of making those dogmaticalassertions which only appear calculated to gird the human mind round withimaginary circles, like the paper globe which represents the one heinhabits. 

This spirit of inquiry is the characteristic of the present century, fromwhich the succeeding will, I am persuaded, receive a great accumulationof knowledge; and doubtless its diffusion will in a great measure destroythe factitious national characters which have been supposed permanent, though only rendered so by the permanency of ignorance. 

Arriving at Fredericshall, at the siege of which Charles XII. Lost hislife, we had only time to take a transient view of it whilst they werepreparing us some refreshment. 

Poor Charles! I thought of him with respect. I have always felt thesame for Alexander, with whom he has been classed as a madman by severalwriters, who have reasoned superficially, confounding the morals of theday with the few grand principles on which unchangeable morality rests. Making no allowance for the ignorance and prejudices of the period, theydo not perceive how much they themselves are indebted to generalimprovement for the acquirements, and even the virtues, which they wouldnot have had the force of mind to attain by their individual exertions ina less advanced state of society. 

The evening was fine, as is usual at this season, and the refreshingodour of the pine woods became more perceptible, for it was nine o'clockwhen we left Fredericshall. At the ferry we were detained by a disputerelative to our Swedish passport, which we did not think of gettingcountersigned in Norway. Midnight was coming on, yet it might with suchpropriety have been termed the noon of night that, had Young evertravelled towards the north, I should not have wondered at his becomingenamoured of the moon. But it is not the Queen of Night alone who reignshere in all her splendour, though the sun, loitering just below thehorizon, decks her within a golden tinge from his car, illuminating thecliffs that hide him; the heavens also, of a clear softened blue, throwher forward, and the evening star appears a smaller moon to the nakedeye. The huge shadows of the rocks, fringed with firs, concentrating theviews without darkening them, excited that tender melancholy which, sublimating the imagination, exalts rather than depresses the mind. 

My companions fell asleep--fortunately they did not snore; and Icontemplated, fearless of idle questions, a night such as I had neverbefore seen or felt, to charm the senses, and calm the heart. The veryair was balmy as it freshened into morn, producing the most voluptuoussensations. A vague pleasurable sentiment absorbed me, as I opened mybosom to the embraces of nature; and my soul rose to its Author, with thechirping of the solitary birds, which began to feel, rather than see, advancing day. I had leisure to mark its progress. The grey morn, streaked with silvery rays, ushered in the orient beams (how beautifullyvarying into purple!), yet I was sorry to lose the soft watery cloudswhich preceded them, exciting a kind of expectation that made me almostafraid to breathe, lest I should break the charm. I saw the sun--andsighed. 

One of my companions, now awake, perceiving that the postillion hadmistaken the road, began to swear at him, and roused the other two, whoreluctantly shook off sleep. 

We had immediately to measure back our steps, and did not reach Stromstadbefore five in the morning. 

The wind had changed in the night, and my boat was ready. 

A dish of coffee, and fresh linen, recruited my spirits, and I directlyset out again for Norway, purposing to land much higher up the coast. 

Wrapping my great-coat round me, I lay down on some sails at the bottomof the boat, its motion rocking me to rest, till a discourteous waveinterrupted my slumbers, and obliged me to rise and feel a solitarinesswhich was not so soothing as that of the past night. 

Adieu!

LETTER VI. 

The sea was boisterous, but, as I had an experienced pilot, I did notapprehend any danger. Sometimes, I was told, boats are driven far outand lost. However, I seldom calculate chances so nicely--sufficient forthe day is the obvious evil!

We had to steer amongst islands and huge rocks, rarely losing sight ofthe shore, though it now and then appeared only a mist that bordered thewater's edge. The pilot assured me that the numerous harbours on theNorway coast were very safe, and the pilot-boats were always on thewatch. The Swedish side is very dangerous, I am also informed; and thehelp of experience is not often at hand to enable strange vessels tosteer clear of the rocks, which lurk below the water close to the shore. 

There are no tides here, nor in the Cattegate, and, what appeared to me aconsequence, no sandy beach. Perhaps this observation has been madebefore; but it did not occur to me till I saw the waves continuallybeating against the bare rocks, without ever receding to leave a sedimentto harden. 

The wind was fair, till we had to tack about in order to enter Laurvig, where we arrived towards three o'clock in the afternoon. It is a clean, pleasant town, with a considerable iron-work, which gives life to it. 

As the Norwegians do not frequently see travellers, they are very curiousto know their business, and who they are--so curious, that I was halftempted to adopt Dr. Franklin's plan, when travelling in America, wherethey are equally prying, which was to write on a paper, for publicinspection, my name, from whence I came, where I was going, and what wasmy business. But if I were importuned by their curiosity, their friendlygestures gratified me. A woman coming alone interested them. And I knownot whether my weariness gave me a look of peculiar delicacy, but theyapproached to assist me, and inquire after my wants, as if they wereafraid to hurt, and wished to protect me. The sympathy I inspired, thusdropping down from the clouds in a strange land, affected me more than itwould have done had not my spirits been harassed by various causes--bymuch thinking--musing almost to madness--and even by a sort of weakmelancholy that hung about my heart at parting with my daughter for thefirst time. 

You know that, as a female, I am particularly attached to her; I feelmore than a mother's fondness and anxiety when I reflect on the dependentand oppressed state of her sex. I dread lest she should be forced tosacrifice her heart to her principles, or principles to her heart. Withtrembling hand I shall cultivate sensibility and cherish delicacy ofsentiment, lest, whilst I lend fresh blushes to the rose, I sharpen thethorns that will wound the breast I would fain guard; I dread to unfoldher mind, lest it should render her unfit for the world she is toinhabit. Hapless woman! what a fate is thine!

But whither am I wandering? I only meant to tell you that the impressionthe kindness of the simple people made visible on my countenanceincreased my sensibility to a painful degree. I wished to have had aroom to myself, for their attention, and rather distressing observation, embarrassed me extremely. Yet, as they would bring me eggs, and make mycoffee, I found I could not leave them without hurting their feelings ofhospitality. 

It is customary here for the host and hostess to welcome their guests asmaster and mistress of the house. 

My clothes, in their turn, attracted the attention of the females, and Icould not help thinking of the foolish vanity which makes many women soproud of the observation of strangers as to take wonder very gratuitouslyfor admiration. This error they are very apt to fall into when, arrivedin a foreign country, the populace stare at them as they pass. Yet themake of a cap or the singularity of a gown is often the cause of theflattering attention which afterwards supports a fantastic superstructureof self-conceit. 

Not having brought a carriage over with me, expecting to have met aperson where I landed, who was immediately to have procured me one, I wasdetained whilst the good people of the inn sent round to all theiracquaintance to search for a vehicle. A rude sort of cabriole was atlast found, and a driver half drunk, who was not less eager to make agood bargain on that account. I had a Danish captain of a ship and hismate with me; the former was to ride on horseback, at which he was notvery expert, and the latter to partake of my seat. The driver mountedbehind to guide the horses and flourish the whip over our shoulders; hewould not suffer the reins out of his own hands. There was something sogrotesque in our appearance that I could not avoid shrinking into myselfwhen I saw a gentleman-like man in the group which crowded round the doorto observe us. I could have broken the driver's whip for cracking tocall the women and children together, but seeing a significant smile onthe face, I had before remarked, I burst into a laugh to allow him to doso too, and away we flew. This is not a flourish of the pen, for weactually went on full gallop a long time, the horses being very good;indeed, I have never met with better, if so good, post-horses as inNorway. They are of a stouter make than the English horses, appear to bewell fed, and are not easily tired. 

I had to pass over, I was informed, the most fertile and best cultivatedtract of country in Norway. The distance was three Norwegian miles, which are longer than the Swedish. The roads were very good; the farmersare obliged to repair them; and we scampered through a great extent ofcountry in a more improved state than any I had viewed since I leftEngland. Still there was sufficient of hills, dales, and rocks toprevent the idea of a plain from entering the head, or even of suchscenery as England and France afford. The prospects were alsoembellished by water, rivers, and lakes before the sea proudly claimed myregard, and the road running frequently through lofty groves rendered thelandscapes beautiful, though they were not so romantic as those I hadlately seen with such delight. 

It was late when I reached Tonsberg, and I was glad to go to bed at adecent inn. The next morning the 17th of July, conversing with thegentleman with whom I had business to transact, I found that I should bedetained at Tonsberg three weeks, and I lamented that I had not broughtmy child with me. 

The inn was quiet, and my room so pleasant, commanding a view of the sea, confined by an amphitheatre of hanging woods, that I wished to remainthere, though no one in the house could speak English or French. Themayor, my friend, however, sent a young woman to me who spoke a littleEnglish, and she agreed to call on me twice a day to receive my ordersand translate them to my hostess. 

My not understanding the language was an excellent pretext for diningalone, which I prevailed on them to let me do at a late hour, for theearly dinners in Sweden had entirely deranged my day. I could not alterit there without disturbing the economy of a family where I was as avisitor, necessity having forced me to accept of an invitation from aprivate family, the lodgings were so incommodious. 

Amongst the Norwegians I had the arrangement of my own time, and Idetermined to regulate it in such a manner that I might enjoy as much oftheir sweet summer as I possibly could; short, it is true, but "passingsweet. "

I never endured a winter in this rude clime, consequently it was not thecontrast, but the real beauty of the season which made the present summerappear to me the finest I had ever seen. Sheltered from the north andeastern winds, nothing can exceed the salubrity, the soft freshness ofthe western gales. In the evening they also die away; the aspen leavestremble into stillness, and reposing nature seems to be warmed by themoon, which here assumes a genial aspect. And if a light shower haschanced to fall with the sun, the juniper, the underwood of the forest, exhales a wild perfume, mixed with a thousand nameless sweets that, soothing the heart, leave images in the memory which the imagination willever hold dear. 

Nature is the nurse of sentiment, the true source of taste; yet whatmisery, as well as rapture, is produced by a quick perception of thebeautiful and sublime when it is exercised in observing animated nature, when every beauteous feeling and emotion excites responsive sympathy, andthe harmonised soul sinks into melancholy or rises to ecstasy, just asthe chords are touched, like the AEolian harp agitated by the changingwind. But how dangerous is it to foster these sentiments in such animperfect state of existence, and how difficult to eradicate them when anaffection for mankind, a passion for an individual, is but the unfoldingof that love which embraces all that is great and beautiful!

When a warm heart has received strong impressions, they are not to beeffaced. Emotions become sentiments, and the imagination renders eventransient sensations permanent by fondly retracing them. I cannot, without a thrill of delight, recollect views I have seen, which are notto be forgotten, nor looks I have felt in every nerve, which I shallnever more meet. The grave has closed over a dear friend, the friend ofmy youth. Still she is present with me, and I hear her soft voicewarbling as I stray over the heath. Fate has separated me from another, the fire of whose eyes, tempered by infantine tenderness, still warms mybreast; even when gazing on these tremendous cliffs sublime emotionsabsorb my soul. And, smile not, if I add that the rosy tint of morningreminds me of a suffusion which will never more charm my senses, unlessit reappears on the cheeks of my child. Her sweet blushes I may yet hidein my bosom, and she is still too young to ask why starts the tear sonear akin to pleasure and pain. 

I cannot write any more at present. To-morrow we will talk of Tonsberg. 

LETTER VII. 

Though the king of Denmark be an absolute monarch, yet the Norwegiansappear to enjoy all the blessings of freedom. Norway may be termed asister kingdom; but the people have no viceroy to lord it over them, andfatten his dependants with the fruit of their labour. 

There are only two counts in the whole country who have estates, andexact some feudal observances from their tenantry. All the rest of thecountry is divided into small farms, which belong to the cultivator. Itis true some few, appertaining to the Church, are let, but always on alease for life, generally renewed in favour of the eldest son, who hasthis advantage as well as a right to a double portion of the property. But the value of the farm is estimated, and after his portion is assignedto him he must be answerable for the residue to the remaining part of thefamily. 

Every farmer for ten years is obliged to attend annually about twelvedays to learn the military exercise, but it is always at a small distancefrom his dwelling, and does not lead him into any new habits of life. 

There are about six thousand regulars also in garrison at Christiania andFredericshall, who are equally reserved, with the militia, for thedefence of their own country. So that when the Prince Royal passed intoSweden in 1788, he was obliged to request, not command, them to accompanyhim on this expedition. 

These corps are mostly composed of the sons of the cottagers, who beinglabourers on the farms, are allowed a few acres to cultivate forthemselves. These men voluntarily enlist, but it is only for a limitedperiod (six years), at the expiration of which they have the liberty ofretiring. The pay is only twopence a day and bread; still, consideringthe cheapness of the country, it is more than sixpence in England. 

The distribution of landed property into small farms produces a degree ofequality which I have seldom seen elsewhere; and the rich being allmerchants, who are obliged to divide their personal fortune amongst theirchildren, the boys always receiving twice as much as the girls, propertyhas met a chance of accumulating till overgrowing wealth destroys thebalance of liberty. 

You will be surprised to hear me talk of liberty; yet the Norwegiansappear to me to be the most free community I have ever observed. 

The mayor of each town or district, and the judges in the country, exercise an authority almost patriarchal. They can do much good, butlittle harm, --as every individual can appeal from their judgment; and asthey may always be forced to give a reason for their conduct, it isgenerally regulated by prudence. "They have not time to learn to betyrants, " said a gentleman to me, with whom I discussed the subject. 

The farmers not fearing to be turned out of their farms, should theydisplease a man in power, and having no vote to be commanded at anelection for a mock representative, are a manly race; for not beingobliged to submit to any debasing tenure in order to live, or advancethemselves in the world, they act with an independent spirit. I neveryet have heard of anything like domineering or oppression, excepting suchas has arisen from natural causes. The freedom the people enjoy may, perhaps, render them a little litigious, and subject them to theimpositions of cunning practitioners of the law; but the authority ofoffice is bounded, and the emoluments of it do not destroy its utility. 

Last year a man who had abused his power was cashiered, on therepresentation of the people to the bailiff of the district. 

There are four in Norway who might with propriety be termed sheriffs; andfrom their sentence an appeal, by either party, may be made toCopenhagen. 

Near most of the towns are commons, on which the cows of all theinhabitants, indiscriminately, are allowed to graze. The poor, to whom acow is necessary, are almost supported by it. Besides, to render livingmore easy, they all go out to fish in their own boats, and fish is theirprincipal food. 

The lower class of people in the towns are in general sailors; and theindustrious have usually little ventures of their own that serve torender the winter comfortable. 

With respect to the country at large, the importation is considerably infavour of Norway. 

They are forbidden, at present, to export corn or rye on account of theadvanced price. 

The restriction which most resembles the painful subordination ofIreland, is that vessels, trading to the West Indies, are obliged to passby their own ports, and unload their cargoes at Copenhagen, which theyafterwards reship. The duty is indeed inconsiderable, but the navigationbeing dangerous, they run a double risk. 

There is an excise on all articles of consumption brought to the towns;but the officers are not strict, and it would be reckoned invidious toenter a house to search, as in England. 

The Norwegians appear to me a sensible, shrewd people, with littlescientific knowledge, and still less taste for literature; but they arearriving at the epoch which precedes the introduction of the arts andsciences. 

Most of the towns are seaports, and seaports are not favourable toimprovement. The captains acquire a little superficial knowledge bytravelling, which their indefatigable attention to the making of moneyprevents their digesting; and the fortune that they thus laboriouslyacquire is spent, as it usually is in towns of this description, in showand good living. They love their country, but have not much publicspirit. Their exertions are, generally speaking, only for theirfamilies, which, I conceive, will always be the case, till politics, becoming a subject of discussion, enlarges the heart by opening theunderstanding. The French Revolution will have this effect. They sing, at present, with great glee, many Republican songs, and seem earnestly towish that the republic may stand; yet they appear very much attached totheir Prince Royal, and, as far as rumour can give an idea of acharacter, he appears to merit their attachment. When I am atCopenhagen, I shall be able to ascertain on what foundation their goodopinion is built; at present I am only the echo of it. 

In the year 1788 he travelled through Norway; and acts of mercy gavedignity to the parade, and interest to the joy his presence inspired. Atthis town he pardoned a girl condemned to die for murdering anillegitimate child, a crime seldom committed in this country. She issince married, and become the careful mother of a family. This might begiven as an instance, that a desperate act is not always a proof of anincorrigible depravity of character, the only plausible excuse that hasbeen brought forward to justify the infliction of capital punishments. 

I will relate two or three other anecdotes to you, for the truth of whichI will not vouch because the facts were not of sufficient consequence forme to take much pains to ascertain them; and, true or false, they evincethat the people like to make a kind of mistress of their prince. 

An officer, mortally wounded at the ill-advised battle of Quistram, desired to speak with the prince; and with his dying breath, earnestlyrecommended to his care a young woman of Christiania, to whom he wasengaged. When the prince returned there, a ball was given by the chiefinhabitants: he inquired whether this unfortunate girl was invited, andrequested that she might, though of the second class. The girl came; shewas pretty; and finding herself among her superiors, bashfully sat downas near the door as possible, nobody taking notice of her. Shortlyafter, the prince entering, immediately inquired for her, and asked herto dance, to the mortification of the rich dames. After it was over hehanded her to the top of the room, and placing himself by her, spoke ofthe loss she had sustained, with tenderness, promising to provide foranyone she should marry, as the story goes. She is since married, and hehas not forgotten his promise. 

A little girl, during the same expedition, in Sweden, who informed himthat the logs of a bridge were out underneath, was taken by his orders toChristiania, and put to school at his expense. 

Before I retail other beneficial effects of his journey, it is necessaryto inform you that the laws here are mild, and do not punish capitallyfor any crime but murder, which seldom occurs. Every other offencemerely subjects the delinquent to imprisonment and labour in the castle, or rather arsenal at Christiania, and the fortress at Fredericshall. Thefirst and second conviction produces a sentence for a limited number ofyears--two, three, five, or seven, proportioned to the atrocity of thecrime. After the third he is whipped, branded in the forehead, andcondemned to perpetual slavery. This is the ordinary course of justice. For some flagrant breaches of trust, or acts of wanton cruelty, criminalshave been condemned to slavery for life time first the of conviction, butnot frequently. The number of these slaves do not, I am informed, amountto more than a hundred, which is not considerable, compared with thepopulation, upwards of eight hundred thousand. Should I pass throughChristiania, on my return to Gothenburg, I shall probably have anopportunity of learning other particulars. 

There is also a House of Correction at Christiania for triflingmisdemeanours, where the women are confined to labour and imprisonmenteven for life. The state of the prisoners was represented to the prince, in consequence of which he visited the arsenal and House of Correction. The slaves at the arsenal were loaded with irons of a great weight; heordered them to be lightened as much as possible. 

The people in the House of Correction were commanded not to speak to him;but four women, condemned to remain there for life, got into the passage, and fell at his feet. He granted them a pardon; and inquiring respectingthe treatment of the prisoners, he was informed that they were frequentlywhipped going in, and coming out, and for any fault, at the discretion ofthe inspectors. This custom he humanely abolished, though some of theprincipal inhabitants, whose situation in life had raised them above thetemptation of stealing, were of opinion that these chastisements werenecessary and wholesome. 

In short, everything seems to announce that the prince really cherishesthe laudable ambition of fulfilling the duties of his station. Thisambition is cherished and directed by the Count Bernstorff, the PrimeMinister of Denmark, who is universally celebrated for his abilities andvirtue. The happiness of the people is a substantial eulogium; and, fromall I can gather, the inhabitants of Denmark and Norway are the leastoppressed people of Europe. The press is free. They translate any ofthe French publications of the day, deliver their opinion on the subject, and discuss those it leads to with great freedom, and without fearing todisplease the Government. 

On the subject of religion they are likewise becoming tolerant, at least, and perhaps have advanced a step further in free-thinking. One writerhas ventured to deny the divinity of Jesus Christ, and to question thenecessity or utility of the Christian system, without being considereduniversally as a monster, which would have been the case a few years ago. They have translated many German works on education; and though they havenot adopted any of their plans, it has become a subject of discussion. There are some grammar and free schools; but, from what I hear, not verygood ones. All the children learn to read, write, and cast accounts, forthe purposes of common life. They have no university; and nothing thatdeserves the name of science is taught; nor do individuals, by pursuingany branch of knowledge, excite a degree of curiosity which is theforerunner of improvement. Knowledge is not absolutely necessary toenable a considerable portion of the community to live; and, till it is, I fear it never becomes general. 

In this country, where minerals abound, there is not one collection; and, in all probability, I venture a conjecture, the want of mechanical andchemical knowledge renders the silver mines unproductive, for thequantity of silver obtained every year is not sufficient to defray theexpenses. It has been urged that the employment of such a number ofhands is very beneficial. But a positive loss is never to be done away;and the men, thus employed, would naturally find some other means ofliving, instead of being thus a dead weight on Government, or rather onthe community from whom its revenue is drawn. 

About three English miles from Tonsberg there is a salt work, belonging, like all their establishments, to Government, in which they employ abovea hundred and fifty men, and maintain nearly five hundred people, whoearn their living. The clear profit, an increasing one, amounts to twothousand pounds sterling. And as the eldest son of the inspector, aningenious young man, has been sent by the Government to travel, andacquire some mathematical and chemical knowledge in Germany, it has achance of being improved. He is the only person I have met with here whoappears to have a scientific turn of mind. I do not mean to assert thatI have not met with others who have a spirit of inquiry. 

The salt-works at St. Ubes are basins in the sand, and the sun producesthe evaporation, but here there is no beach. Besides, the heat of summeris so short-lived that it would be idle to contrive machines for such aninconsiderable portion of the year. They therefore always use fires; andthe whole establishment appears to be regulated with judgment. 

The situation is well chosen and beautiful. I do not find, from theobservation of a person who has resided here for forty years, that thesea advances or recedes on this coast. 

I have already remarked that little attention is paid to education, excepting reading, writing, and the rudiments of arithmetic; I ought tohave added that a catechism is carefully taught, and the children obligedto read in the churches, before the congregation, to prove that they arenot neglected. 

Degrees, to enable any one to practise any profession, must be taken atCopenhagen; and the people of this country, having the good sense toperceive that men who are to live in a community should at least acquirethe elements of their knowledge, and form their youthful attachmentsthere, are seriously endeavouring to establish a university in Norway. And Tonsberg, as a central place in the best part of the country, had themost suffrages, for, experiencing the bad effects of a metropolis, theyhave determined not to have it in or near Christiania. Should such anestablishment take place, it will promote inquiry throughout the country, and give a new face to society. Premiums have been offered, and prizequestions written, which I am told have merit. The buildingcollege-halls, and other appendages of the seat of science, might enableTonsberg to recover its pristine consequence, for it is one of the mostancient towns of Norway, and once contained nine churches. At presentthere are only two. One is a very old structure, and has a Gothicrespectability about it, which scarcely amounts to grandeur, because, torender a Gothic pile grand, it must have a huge unwieldiness ofappearance. The chapel of Windsor may be an exception to this rule; Imean before it was in its present nice, clean state. When I first sawit, the pillars within had acquired, by time, a sombre hue, whichaccorded with the architecture; and the gloom increased its dimensions tothe eye by hiding its parts; but now it all bursts on the view at once, and the sublimity has vanished before the brush and broom; for it hasbeen white-washed and scraped till it has become as bright and neat asthe pots and pans in a notable house-wife's kitchen--yes; the very spurson the recumbent knights were deprived of their venerable rust, to give astriking proof that a love of order in trifles, and taste for proportionand arrangement, are very distinct. The glare of light thus introducedentirely destroys the sentiment these piles are calculated to inspire; sothat, when I heard something like a jig from the organ-loft, I thought itan excellent hall for dancing or feasting. The measured pace of thoughtwith which I had entered the cathedral changed into a trip; and I boundedon the terrace, to see the royal family, with a number of ridiculousimages in my head that I shall not now recall. 

The Norwegians are fond of music, and every little church has an organ. In the church I have mentioned there is an inscription importing that aking James VI. Of Scotland and I. Of England, who came with more thanprincely gallantry to escort his bride home--stood there, and hearddivine service. 

There is a little recess full of coffins, which contains bodies embalmedlong since--so long, that there is not even a tradition to lead to aguess at their names. 

A desire of preserving the body seems to have prevailed in most countriesof the world, futile as it is to term it a preservation, when the noblestparts are immediately sacrificed merely to save the muscles, skin, andbone from rottenness. When I was shown these human petrifactions, Ishrank back with disgust and horror. "Ashes to ashes!" thought I--"Dustto dust!" If this be not dissolution, it is something worse than naturaldecay--it is treason against humanity, thus to lift up the awful veilwhich would fain hide its weakness. The grandeur of the active principleis never more strongly felt than at such a sight, for nothing is so uglyas the human form when deprived of life, and thus dried into stone, merely to preserve the most disgusting image of death. The contemplationof noble ruins produces a melancholy that exalts the mind. We take aretrospect of the exertions of man, the fate of empires and their rulers, and marking the grand destruction of ages, it seems the necessary changeof the leading to improvement. Our very soul expands, and we forget ourlittleness--how painfully brought to our recollection by such vainattempts to snatch from decay what is destined so soon to perish. Life, what art thou? Where goes this breath?--this _I_, so much alive? Inwhat element will it mix, giving or receiving fresh energy? What willbreak the enchantment of animation? For worlds I would not see a form Iloved--embalmed in my heart--thus sacrilegiously handled? Pugh! mystomach turns. Is this all the distinction of the rich in the grave?They had better quietly allow the scythe of equality to mow them downwith the common mass, than struggle to become a monument of theinstability of human greatness. 

The teeth, nails, and skin were whole, without appearing black like theEgyptian mummies; and some silk, in which they had been wrapped, stillpreserved its colour--pink--with tolerable freshness. 

I could not learn how long the bodies had been in this state, in whichthey bid fair to remain till the Day of Judgment, if there is to be sucha day; and before that time, it will require some trouble to make themfit to appear in company with angels without disgracing humanity. Godbless you! I feel a conviction that we have some perfectible principlein our present vestment, which will not be destroyed just as we begin tobe sensible of improvement; and I care not what habit it next puts on, sure that it will be wisely formed to suit a higher state of existence. Thinking of death makes us tenderly cling to our affections; with morethan usual tenderness I therefore assure you that I am yours, wishingthat the temporary death of absence may not endure longer than isabsolutely necessary. 

LETTER VIII. 

Tonsberg was formerly the residence of one of the little sovereigns ofNorway; and on an adjacent mountain the vestiges of a fort remain, whichwas battered down by the Swedes, the entrance of the bay lying close toit. 

Here I have frequently strayed, sovereign of the waste; I seldom met anyhuman creature; and sometimes, reclining on the mossy down, under theshelter of a rock, the prattling of the sea amongst the pebbles haslulled me to sleep--no fear of any rude satyr's approaching to interruptmy repose. Balmy were the slumbers, and soft the gales, that refreshedme, when I awoke to follow, with an eye vaguely curious, the white sails, as they turned the cliffs, or seemed to take shelter under the pineswhich covered the little islands that so gracefully rose to render theterrific ocean beautiful. The fishermen were calmly casting their nets, whilst the sea-gulls hovered over the unruffled deep. Everything seemedto harmonise into tranquillity; even the mournful call of the bittern wasin cadence with the tinkling bells on the necks of the cows, that, pacingslowly one after the other, along an inviting path in the vale below, were repairing to the cottages to be milked. With what ineffablepleasure have I not gazed--and gazed again, losing my breath through myeyes--my very soul diffused itself in the scene; and, seeming to becomeall senses, glided in the scarcely-agitated waves, melted in thefreshening breeze, or, taking its flight with fairy wing, to the mistymountain which bounded the prospect, fancy tripped over new lawns, morebeautiful even than the lovely slopes on the winding shore before me. Ipause, again breathless, to trace, with renewed delight, sentiments whichentranced me, when, turning my humid eyes from the expanse below to thevault above, my sight pierced the fleecy clouds that softened the azurebrightness; and imperceptibly recalling the reveries of childhood, Ibowed before the awful throne of my Creator, whilst I rested on itsfootstool. 

You have sometimes wondered, my dear friend, at the extreme affection ofmy nature. But such is the temperature of my soul. It is not thevivacity of youth, the heyday of existence. For years have I endeavouredto calm an impetuous tide, labouring to make my feelings take an orderlycourse. It was striving against the stream. I must love and admire withwarmth, or I sink into sadness. Tokens of love which I have receivedhave wrapped me in Elysium, purifying the heart they enchanted. My bosomstill glows. Do not saucily ask, repeating Sterne's question, "Maria, isit still so warm?" Sufficiently, O my God! Has it been chilled bysorrow and unkindness; still nature will prevail; and if I blush atrecollecting past enjoyment, it is the rosy hue of pleasure heightened bymodesty, for the blush of modesty and shame are as distinct as theemotions by which they are produced. 

I need scarcely inform you, after telling you of my walks, that myconstitution has been renovated here, and that I have recovered myactivity even whilst attaining a little _embonpoint_. My imprudence lastwinter, and some untoward accidents just at the time I was weaning mychild, had reduced me to a state of weakness which I never beforeexperienced. A slow fever preyed on me every night during my residencein Sweden, and after I arrived at Tonsberg. By chance I found a finerivulet filtered through the rocks, and confined in a basin for thecattle. It tasted to me like a chalybeate; at any rate, it was pure; andthe good effect of the various waters which invalids are sent to drinkdepends, I believe, more on the air, exercise, and change of scene, thanon their medicinal qualities. I therefore determined to turn my morningwalks towards it, and seek for health from the nymph of the fountain, partaking of the beverage offered to the tenants of the shade. 

Chance likewise led me to discover a new pleasure equally beneficial tomy health. I wished to avail myself of my vicinity to the sea and bathe;but it was not possible near the town; there was no convenience. Theyoung woman whom I mentioned to you proposed rowing me across the wateramongst the rocks; but as she was pregnant, I insisted on taking one ofthe oars, and learning to row. It was not difficult, and I do not know apleasanter exercise. I soon became expert, and my train of thinking kepttime, as it were, with the oars, or I suffered the boat to be carriedalong by the current, indulging a pleasing forgetfulness or fallacioushopes. How fallacious! yet, without hope, what is to sustain life, butthe fear of annihilation--the only thing of which I have ever felt adread. I cannot bear to think of being no more--of losing myself--thoughexistence is often but a painful consciousness of misery; nay, it appearsto me impossible that I should cease to exist, or that this active, restless spirit, equally alive to joy and sorrow, should only beorganised dust--ready to fly abroad the moment the spring snaps, or thespark goes out which kept it together. Surely something resides in thisheart that is not perishable, and life is more than a dream. 

Sometimes, to take up my oar once more, when the sea was calm, I wasamused by disturbing the innumerable young star fish which floated justbelow the surface; I had never observed them before, for they have not ahard shell like those which I have seen on the seashore. They look likethickened water with a white edge, and four purple circles, of differentforms, were in the middle, over an incredible number of fibres or whitelines. Touching them, the cloudy substance would turn or close, first onone side, then on the other, very gracefully, but when I took one of themup in the ladle, with which I heaved the water out of the boat, itappeared only a colourless jelly. 

I did not see any of the seals, numbers of which followed our boat whenwe landed in Sweden; but though I like to sport in the water I shouldhave had no desire to join in their gambols. 

Enough, you will say, of inanimate nature and of brutes, to use thelordly phrase of man; let me hear something of the inhabitants. 

The gentleman with whom I had business is the Mayor of Tonsberg. Hespeaks English intelligibly, and, having a sound understanding, I wassorry that his numerous occupations prevented my gaining as muchinformation from him as I could have drawn forth had we frequentlyconversed. The people of the town, as far as I had an opportunity ofknowing their sentiments, are extremely well satisfied with his manner ofdischarging his office. He has a degree of information and good sensewhich excites respect, whilst a cheerfulness, almost amounting to gaiety, enables him to reconcile differences and keep his neighbours in goodhumour. "I lost my horse, " said a woman to me, "but ever since, when Iwant to send to the mill, or go out, the Mayor lends me one. He scoldsif I do not come for it. "

A criminal was branded, during my stay here, for the third offence; butthe relief he received made him declare that the judge was one of thebest men in the world. 

I sent this wretch a trifle, at different times, to take with him intoslavery. As it was more than he expected, he wished very much to see me, and this wish brought to my remembrance an anecdote I heard when I was inLisbon. 

A wretch who had been imprisoned several years, during which period lampshad been put up, was at last condemned to a cruel death, yet, in his wayto execution, he only wished for one night's respite to see the citylighted. 

Having dined in company at the mayor's I was invited with his family tospend the day at one of the richest merchant's houses. Though I couldnot speak Danish I knew that I could see a great deal; yes, I ampersuaded that I have formed a very just opinion of the character of theNorwegians, without being able to hold converse with them. 

I had expected to meet some company, yet was a little disconcerted atbeing ushered into an apartment full of well dressed people, and glancingmy eyes round they rested on several very pretty faces. Rosy cheeks, sparkling eyes, and light brown or golden locks; for I never saw so muchhair with a yellow cast, and, with their fine complexions, it looked verybecoming. 

These women seem a mixture of indolence and vivacity; they scarcely everwalk out, and were astonished that I should for pleasure, yet they areimmoderately fond of dancing. Unaffected in their manners, if they haveno pretensions to elegance, simplicity often produces a gracefulness ofdeportment, when they are animated by a particular desire to please, which was the case at present. The solitariness of my situation, whichthey thought terrible, interested them very much in my favour. Theygathered round me, sung to me, and one of the prettiest, to whom I gavemy hand with some degree of cordiality, to meet the glance of her eyes, kissed me very affectionately. 

At dinner, which was conducted with great hospitality, though we remainedat table too long, they sung several songs, and, amongst the rest, translations of some patriotic French ones. As the evening advanced theybecame playful, and we kept up a sort of conversation of gestures. Astheir minds were totally uncultivated I did not lose much, perhapsgained, by not being able to understand them; for fancy probably filledup, more to their advantage, the void in the picture. Be that as it may, they excited my sympathy, and I was very much flattered when I was toldthe next day that they said it was a pleasure to look at me, I appearedso good-natured. 

The men were generally captains of ships. Several spoke English verytolerably, but they were merely matter-of-fact men, confined to a verynarrow circle of observation. I found it difficult to obtain from themany information respecting their own country, when the fumes of tobaccodid not keep me at a distance. 

I was invited to partake of some other feasts, and always had to complainof the quantity of provision and the length of time taken to consume it;for it would not have been proper to have said devour, all went on sofair and softly. The servants wait as slowly as their mistresses carve. 

The young women here, as well as in Sweden, have commonly bad teeth, which I attribute to the same causes. They are fond of finery, but donot pay the necessary attention to their persons, to render beauty lesstransient than a flower, and that interesting expression which sentimentand accomplishments give seldom supplies its place. 

The servants have, likewise, an inferior sort of food here, but theirmasters are not allowed to strike them with impunity. I might have addedmistresses, for it was a complaint of this kind brought before the mayorwhich led me to a knowledge of the fact. 

The wages are low, which is particularly unjust, because the price ofclothes is much higher than that of provision. A young woman, who is wetnurse to the mistress of the inn where I lodge, receives only twelvedollars a year, and pays ten for the nursing of her own child. Thefather had run away to get clear of the expense. There was something inthis most painful state of widowhood which excited my compassion and ledme to reflections on the instability of the most flattering plans ofhappiness, that were painful in the extreme, till I was ready to askwhether this world was not created to exhibit every possible combinationof wretchedness. I asked these questions of a heart writhing withanguish, whilst I listened to a melancholy ditty sung by this poor girl. It was too early for thee to be abandoned, thought I, and I hastened outof the house to take my solitary evening's walk. And here I am again totalk of anything but the pangs arising from the discovery of estrangedaffection and the lonely sadness of a deserted heart. 

The father and mother, if the father can be ascertained, are obliged tomaintain an illegitimate child at their joint expense; but, should thefather disappear, go up the country or to sea, the mother must maintainit herself. However, accidents of this kind do not prevent theirmarrying, and then it is not unusual to take the child or children home, and they are brought up very amicably with the marriage progeny. 

I took some pains to learn what books were written originally in theirlanguage; but for any certain information respecting the state of Danishliterature I must wait till I arrive at Copenhagen. 

The sound of the language is soft, a great proportion of the words endingin vowels; and there is a simplicity in the turn of some of the phraseswhich have been translated to me that pleased and interested me. In thecountry the farmers use the _thou_ and _thee_; and they do not acquirethe polite plurals of the towns by meeting at market. The not havingmarkets established in the large towns appears to me a greatinconvenience. When the farmers have anything to sell they bring it tothe neighbouring town and take it from house to house. I am surprisedthat the inhabitants do not feel how very incommodious this usage is toboth parties, and redress it; they, indeed, perceive it, for when I haveintroduced the subject they acknowledged that they were often in want ofnecessaries, there being no butchers, and they were often obliged to buywhat they did not want; yet it was the custom, and the changing ofcustoms of a long standing requires more energy than they yet possess. Ireceived a similar reply when I attempted to persuade the women that theyinjured their children by keeping them too warm. The only way ofparrying off my reasoning was that they must do as other people did; inshort, reason on any subject of change, and they stop you by saying that"the town would talk. " A person of sense, with a large fortune to ensurerespect, might be very useful here, by inducing them to treat theirchildren and manage their sick properly, and eat food dressed in asimpler manner--the example, for instance, of a count's lady. 

Reflecting on these prejudices made me revert to the wisdom of thoselegislators who established institutions for the good of the body underthe pretext of serving heaven for the salvation of the soul. These mightwith strict propriety be termed pious frauds; and I admire the Peruvianpair for asserting that they came from the sun, when their conduct provedthat they meant to enlighten a benighted country, whose obedience, oreven attention, could only be secured by awe. Thus much for conqueringthe _inertia_ of reason; but, when it is once in motion, fables once heldsacred may be ridiculed; and sacred they were when useful to mankind. Prometheus alone stole fire to animate the first man; his posterity needsnot supernatural aid to preserve the species, though love is generallytermed a flame; and it may not be necessary much longer to suppose meninspired by heaven to inculcate the duties which demand special gracewhen reason convinces them that they are the happiest who are the mostnobly employed. 

In a few days I am to set out for the western part of Norway, and thenshall return by land to Gothenburg. I cannot think of leaving this placewithout regret. I speak of the place before the inhabitants, thoughthere is a tenderness in their artless kindness which attaches me tothem; but it is an attachment that inspires a regret very different fromthat I felt at leaving Hull in my way to Sweden. The domestic happinessand good-humoured gaiety of the amiable family where I and my Franceswere so hospitably received would have been sufficient to ensure thetenderest remembrance, without the recollection of the social evening tostimulate it, when good breeding gave dignity to sympathy and wit zest toreason. 

Adieu!--I am just informed that my horse has been waiting this quarter ofan hour. I now venture to ride out alone. The steeple serves as alandmark. I once or twice lost my way, walking alone, without being ableto inquire after a path; I was therefore obliged to make to the steeple, or windmill, over hedge and ditch. 

Yours truly. 

LETTER IX. 

I have already informed you that there are only two noblemen who haveestates of any magnitude in Norway. One of these has a house nearTonsberg, at which he has not resided for some years, having been atcourt, or on embassies. He is now the Danish Ambassador in London. Thehouse is pleasantly situated, and the grounds about it fine; but theirneglected appearance plainly tells that there is nobody at home. 

A stupid kind of sadness, to my eye, always reigns in a huge habitationwhere only servants live to put cases on the furniture and open thewindows. I enter as I would into the tomb of the Capulets, to look atthe family pictures that here frown in armour, or smile in ermine. Themildew respects not the lordly robe, and the worm riots unchecked on thecheek of beauty. 

There was nothing in the architecture of the building, or the form of thefurniture, to detain me from the avenue where the aged pines stretchedalong majestically. Time had given a greyish cast to their ever-greenfoliage; and they stood, like sires of the forest, sheltered on all sidesby a rising progeny. I had not ever seen so many oaks together in Norwayas in these woods, nor such large aspens as here were agitated by thebreeze, rendering the wind audible--nay musical; for melody seemed on thewing around me. How different was the fresh odour that reanimated me inthe avenue, from the damp chillness of the apartments; and as little didthe gloomy thoughtfulness excited by the dusty hangings, and worm-eatenpictures, resemble the reveries inspired by the soothing melancholy oftheir shade. In the winter, these august pines, towering above the snow, must relieve the eye beyond measure and give life to the white waste. 

The continual recurrence of pine and fir groves in the day sometimeswearies the sight, but in the evening, nothing can be more picturesque, or, more properly speaking, better calculated to produce poetical images. Passing through them, I have been struck with a mystic kind of reverence, and I did, as it were, homage to their venerable shadows. Not nymphs, but philosophers, seemed to inhabit them--ever musing; I could scarcelyconceive that they were without some consciousness of existence--withouta calm enjoyment of the pleasure they diffused. 

How often do my feelings produce ideas that remind me of the origin ofmany poetical fictions. In solitude, the imagination bodies forth itsconceptions unrestrained, and stops enraptured to adore the beings of itsown creation. These are moments of bliss; and the memory recalls themwith delight. 

But I have almost forgotten the matters of fact I meant to relate, respecting the counts. They have the presentation of the livings ontheir estates, appoint the judges, and different civil officers, theCrown reserving to itself the privilege of sanctioning them. But thoughthey appoint, they cannot dismiss. Their tenants also occupy their farmsfor life, and are obliged to obey any summons to work on the part hereserves for himself; but they are paid for their labour. In short, Ihave seldom heard of any noblemen so innoxious. 

Observing that the gardens round the count's estate were bettercultivated than any I had before seen, I was led to reflect on theadvantages which naturally accrue from the feudal tenures. The tenantsof the count are obliged to work at a stated price, in his grounds andgarden; and the instruction which they imperceptibly receive from thehead gardener tends to render them useful, and makes them, in the commoncourse of things, better husbandmen and gardeners on their own littlefarms. Thus the great, who alone travel in this period of society, forthe observation of manners and customs made by sailors is very confined, bring home improvement to promote their own comfort, which is graduallyspread abroad amongst the people, till they are stimulated to think forthemselves. 

The bishops have not large revenues, and the priests are appointed by theking before they come to them to be ordained. There is commonly somelittle farm annexed to the parsonage, and the inhabitants subscribevoluntarily, three times a year, in addition to the church fees, for thesupport of the clergyman. The church lands were seized when Lutheranismwas introduced, the desire of obtaining them being probably the realstimulus of reformation. The tithes, which are never required in kind, are divided into three parts--one to the king, another to the incumbent, and the third to repair the dilapidations of the parsonage. They do notamount to much. And the stipend allowed to the different civil officersis also too small, scarcely deserving to be termed an independence; thatof the custom-house officers is not sufficient to procure the necessariesof life--no wonder, then, if necessity leads them to knavery. Muchpublic virtue cannot be expected till every employment, puttingperquisites out of the question, has a salary sufficient to rewardindustry;--whilst none are so great as to permit the possessor to remainidle. It is this want of proportion between profit and labour whichdebases men, producing the sycophantic appellations of patron and client, and that pernicious _esprit du corps_, proverbially vicious. 

The farmers are hospitable as well as independent. Offering once to payfor some coffee I drank when taking shelter from the rain, I was asked, rather angrily, if a little coffee was worth paying for. They smoke, anddrink drams, but not so much as formerly. Drunkenness, often theattendant disgrace of hospitality, will here, as well as everywhere else, give place to gallantry and refinement of manners; but the change willnot be suddenly produced. 

The people of every class are constant in their attendance at church;they are very fond of dancing, and the Sunday evenings in Norway, as inCatholic countries, are spent in exercises which exhilarate the spiritswithout vitiating the heart. The rest of labour ought to be gay; and thegladness I have felt in France on a Sunday, or Decadi, which I caughtfrom the faces around me, was a sentiment more truly religious than allthe stupid stillness which the streets of London ever inspired where theSabbath is so decorously observed. I recollect, in the country parts ofEngland, the churchwardens used to go out during the service to see ifthey could catch any luckless wight playing at bowls or skittles; yetwhat could be more harmless? It would even, I think, be a greatadvantage to the English, if feats of activity (I do not include boxingmatches) were encouraged on a Sunday, as it might stop the progress ofMethodism, and of that fanatical spirit which appears to be gainingground. I was surprised when I visited Yorkshire, on my way to Sweden, to find that sullen narrowness of thinking had made such a progress sinceI was an inhabitant of the country. I could hardly have supposed thatsixteen or seventeen years could have produced such an alteration for theworse in the morals of a place--yes, I say morals; for observance offorms, and avoiding of practices, indifferent in themselves, often supplythe place of that regular attention to duties which are so natural, thatthey seldom are vauntingly exercised, though they are worth all theprecepts of the law and the prophets. Besides, many of these deludedpeople, with the best meaning, actually lose their reason, and becomemiserable, the dread of damnation throwing them into a state which meritsthe term; and still more, in running after their preachers, expecting topromote their salvation, they disregard their welfare in this world, andneglect the interest and comfort of their families; so that, inproportion as they attain a reputation for piety, they become idle. 

Aristocracy and fanaticism seem equally to be gaining ground in England, particularly in the place I have mentioned; I saw very little of eitherin Norway. The people are regular in their attendance on public worship, but religion does not interfere with their employments. 

As the farmers cut away the wood they clear the ground. Every year, therefore, the country is becoming fitter to support the inhabitants. Half a century ago the Dutch, I am told, only paid for the cutting downof the wood, and the farmers were glad to get rid of it without givingthemselves any trouble. At present they form a just estimate of itsvalue; nay, I was surprised to find even firewood so dear when it appearsto be in such plenty. The destruction, or gradual reduction, of theirforests will probably ameliorate the climate, and their manners willnaturally improve in the same ratio as industry requires ingenuity. Itis very fortunate that men are a long time but just above the brutecreation, or the greater part of the earth would never have been renderedhabitable, because it is the patient labour of men, who are only seekingfor a subsistence, which produces whatever embellishes existence, affording leisure for the cultivation of the arts and sciences that liftman so far above his first state. I never, my friend, thought so deeplyof the advantages obtained by human industry as since I have been inNorway. The world requires, I see, the hand of man to perfect it, and asthis task naturally unfolds the faculties he exercises, it is physicallyimpossible that he should have remained in Rousseau's golden age ofstupidity. And, considering the question of human happiness, where, ohwhere does it reside? Has it taken up its abode with unconsciousignorance or with the high-wrought mind? Is it the offspring ofthoughtless animal spirits or the dye of fancy continually flitting roundthe expected pleasure?

The increasing population of the earth must necessarily tend to itsimprovement, as the means of existence are multiplied by invention. 

You have probably made similar reflections in America, where the face ofthe country, I suppose, resembles the wilds of Norway. I am delightedwith the romantic views I daily contemplate, animated by the purest air;and I am interested by the simplicity of manners which reigns around me. Still nothing so soon wearies out the feelings as unmarked simplicity. Iam therefore half convinced that I could not live very comfortably exiledfrom the countries where mankind are so much further advanced inknowledge, imperfect as it is, and unsatisfactory to the thinking mind. Even now I begin to long to hear what you are doing in England andFrance. My thoughts fly from this wilderness to the polished circles ofthe world, till recollecting its vices and follies, I bury myself in thewoods, but find it necessary to emerge again, that I may not lose sightof the wisdom and virtue which exalts my nature. 

What a long time it requires to know ourselves; and yet almost every onehas more of this knowledge than he is willing to own, even to himself. Icannot immediately determine whether I ought to rejoice at having turnedover in this solitude a new page in the history of my own heart, though Imay venture to assure you that a further acquaintance with mankind onlytends to increase my respect for your judgment and esteem for yourcharacter. Farewell!

LETTER X. 

I have once more, my friend, taken flight, for I left Tonsberg yesterday, but with an intention of returning in my way back to Sweden. 

The road to Laurvig is very fine, and the country the best cultivated inNorway. I never before admired the beech tree, and when I met stragglershere they pleased me still less. Long and lank, they would have forcedme to allow that the line of beauty requires some curves, if the statelypine, standing near, erect, throwing her vast arms around, had not lookedbeautiful in opposition to such narrow rules. 

In these respects my very reason obliges me to permit my feelings to bemy criterion. Whatever excites emotion has charms for me, though Iinsist that the cultivation of the mind by warming, nay, almost creatingthe imagination, produces taste and an immense variety of sensations andemotions, partaking of the exquisite pleasure inspired by beauty andsublimity. As I know of no end to them, the word infinite, so oftenmisapplied, might on this occasion be introduced with something likepropriety. 

But I have rambled away again. I intended to have remarked to you theeffect produced by a grove of towering beech, the airy lightness of theirfoliage admitting a degree of sunshine, which, giving a transparency tothe leaves, exhibited an appearance of freshness and elegance that I hadnever before remarked. I thought of descriptions of Italian scenery. Butthese evanescent graces seemed the effect of enchantment; and Iimperceptibly breathed softly, lest I should destroy what was real, yetlooked so like the creation of fancy. Dryden's fable of the flower andthe leaf was not a more poetical reverie. 

Adieu, however, to fancy, and to all the sentiments which ennoble ournature. I arrived at Laurvig, and found myself in the midst of a groupof lawyers of different descriptions. My head turned round, my heartgrew sick, as I regarded visages deformed by vice, and listened toaccounts of chicanery that was continually embroiling the ignorant. Theselocusts will probably diminish as the people become more enlightened. Inthis period of social life the commonalty are always cunningly attentiveto their own interest; but their faculties, confined to a few objects, are so narrowed, that they cannot discover it in the general good. Theprofession of the law renders a set of men still shrewder and moreselfish than the rest; and it is these men, whose wits have beensharpened by knavery, who here undermine morality, confounding right andwrong. 

The Count of Bernstorff, who really appears to me, from all I can gather, to have the good of the people at heart, aware of this, has lately sentto the mayor of each district to name, according to the size of theplace, four or six of the best-informed inhabitants, not men of the law, out of which the citizens were to elect two, who are to be termedmediators. Their office is to endeavour to prevent litigious suits, andconciliate differences. And no suit is to be commenced before theparties have discussed the dispute at their weekly meeting. If areconciliation should, in consequence, take place, it is to beregistered, and the parties are not allowed to retract. 

By these means ignorant people will be prevented from applying for adviceto men who may justly be termed stirrers-up of strife. They have for along time, to use a significant vulgarism, set the people by the ears, and live by the spoil they caught up in the scramble. There is somereason to hope that this regulation will diminish their number, andrestrain their mischievous activity. But till trials by jury areestablished, little justice can be expected in Norway. Judges who cannotbe bribed are often timid, and afraid of offending bold knaves, lest theyshould raise a set of hornets about themselves. The fear of censureundermines all energy of character; and, labouring to be prudent, theylose sight of rectitude. Besides, nothing is left to their conscience, or sagacity; they must be governed by evidence, though internallyconvinced that it is false. 

There is a considerable iron manufactory at Laurvig for coarse work, anda lake near the town supplies the water necessary for working severalmills belonging to it. 

This establishment belongs to the Count of Laurvig. Without a fortuneand influence equal to his, such a work could not have been set afloat;personal fortunes are not yet sufficient to support such undertakings. Nevertheless the inhabitants of the town speak of the size of his estateas an evil, because it obstructs commerce. The occupiers of small farmsare obliged to bring their wood to the neighbouring seaports to beshipped; but he, wishing to increase the value of his, will not allow itto be thus gradually cut down, which turns the trade into anotherchannel. Added to this, nature is against them, the bay being open andinsecure. I could not help smiling when I was informed that in a hardgale a vessel had been wrecked in the main street. When there are such anumber of excellent harbours on the coast, it is a pity that accident hasmade one of the largest towns grow up on a bad one. 

The father of the present count was a distant relation of the family; heresided constantly in Denmark, and his son follows his example. Theyhave not been in possession of the estate many years; and theirpredecessor lived near the town, introducing a degree of profligacy ofmanners which has been ruinous to the inhabitants in every respect, theirfortunes not being equal to the prevailing extravagance. 

What little I have seen of the manners of the people does not please meso well as those of Tonsberg. I am forewarned that I shall find themstill more cunning and fraudulent as I advance towards the westward, inproportion as traffic takes place of agriculture, for their towns arebuilt on naked rocks, the streets are narrow bridges, and the inhabitantsare all seafaring men, or owners of ships, who keep shops. 

The inn I was at in Laurvig this journey was not the same that I was atbefore. It is a good one--the people civil, and the accommodationsdecent. They seem to be better provided in Sweden; but in justice Iought to add that they charge more extravagantly. My bill at Tonsbergwas also much higher than I had paid in Sweden, and much higher than itought to have been where provision is so cheap. Indeed, they seem toconsider foreigners as strangers whom they shall never see again, and mayfairly pluck. And the inhabitants of the western coast, isolated, as itwere, regard those of the east almost as strangers. Each town in thatquarter seems to be a great family, suspicious of every other, allowingnone to cheat them but themselves; and, right or wrong, they support oneanother in the face of justice. 

On this journey I was fortunate enough to have one companion with moreenlarged views than the generality of his countrymen, who spoke Englishtolerably. 

I was informed that we might still advance a mile and a quarter in ourcabrioles; afterwards there was no choice, but of a single horse andwretched path, or a boat, the usual mode of travelling. 

We therefore sent our baggage forward in the boat, and followed ratherslowly, for the road was rocky and sandy. We passed, however, throughseveral beech groves, which still delighted me by the freshness of theirlight green foliage, and the elegance of their assemblage, formingretreats to veil without obscuring the sun. 

I was surprised, at approaching the water, to find a little cluster ofhouses pleasantly situated, and an excellent inn. I could have wished tohave remained there all night; but as the wind was fair, and the eveningfine, I was afraid to trust to the wind--the uncertain wind of to-morrow. We therefore left Helgeraac immediately with the declining sun. 

Though we were in the open sea, we sailed more amongst the rocks andislands than in my passage from Stromstad; and they often forced verypicturesque combinations. Few of the high ridges were entirely bare; theseeds of some pines or firs had been wafted by the winds or waves, andthey stood to brave the elements. 

Sitting, then, in a little boat on the ocean, amidst strangers, withsorrow and care pressing hard on me--buffeting me about from clime toclime--I felt

 "Like the lone shrub at random cast, That sighs and trembles at each blast!"

On some of the largest rocks there were actually groves, the retreat offoxes and hares, which, I suppose, had tripped over the ice during thewinter, without thinking to regain the main land before the thaw. 

Several of the islands were inhabited by pilots; and the Norwegian pilotsare allowed to be the best in the world--perfectly acquainted with theircoast, and ever at hand to observe the first signal or sail. They pay asmall tax to the king and to the regulating officer, and enjoy the fruitof their indefatigable industry. 

One of the islands, called Virgin Land, is a flat, with some depth ofearth, extending for half a Norwegian mile, with three farms on it, tolerably well cultivated. 

On some of the bare rocks I saw straggling houses; they rose above thedenomination of huts inhabited by fishermen. My companions assured methat they were very comfortable dwellings, and that they have not onlythe necessaries, but even what might be reckoned the superfluities oflife. It was too late for me to go on shore, if you will allow me togive that name to shivering rocks, to ascertain the fact. 

But rain coming on, and the night growing dark, the pilot declared thatit would be dangerous for us to attempt to go to the place of ourdestination--East Rusoer--a Norwegian mile and a half further; and wedetermined to stop for the night at a little haven, some half dozenhouses scattered under the curve of a rock. Though it became darker anddarker, our pilot avoided the blind rocks with great dexterity. 

It was about ten o'clock when we arrived, and the old hostess quicklyprepared me a comfortable bed--a little too soft or so, but I was weary;and opening the window to admit the sweetest of breezes to fan me tosleep, I sunk into the most luxurious rest: it was more than refreshing. The hospitable sprites of the grots surely hovered round my pillow; and, if I awoke, it was to listen to the melodious whispering of the windamongst them, or to feel the mild breath of morn. Light slumbersproduced dreams, where Paradise was before me. My little cherub wasagain hiding her face in my bosom. I heard her sweet cooing beat on myheart from the cliffs, and saw her tiny footsteps on the sands. New-bornhopes seemed, like the rainbow, to appear in the clouds of sorrow, faint, yet sufficient to amuse away despair. 

Some refreshing but heavy showers have detained us; and here I am writingquite alone--something more than gay, for which I want a name. 

I could almost fancy myself in Nootka Sound, or on some of the islands onthe north-west coast of America. We entered by a narrow pass through therocks, which from this abode appear more romantic than you can wellimagine; and seal-skins hanging at the door to dry add to the illusion. 

It is indeed a corner of the world, but you would be surprised to see thecleanliness and comfort of the dwelling. The shelves are not onlyshining with pewter and queen's ware, but some articles in silver, moreponderous, it is true, than elegant. The linen is good, as well aswhite. All the females spin, and there is a loom in the kitchen. A sortof individual taste appeared in the arrangement of the furniture (this isnot the place for imitation) and a kindness in their desire to oblige. How superior to the apish politeness of the towns! where the people, affecting to be well bred, fatigue with their endless ceremony. 

The mistress is a widow, her daughter is married to a pilot, and hasthree cows. They have a little patch of land at about the distance oftwo English miles, where they make hay for the winter, which they bringhome in a boat. They live here very cheap, getting money from thevessels which stress of weather, or other causes, bring into theirharbour. I suspect, by their furniture, that they smuggle a little. Ican now credit the account of the other houses, which I last nightthought exaggerated. 

I have been conversing with one of my companions respecting the laws andregulations of Norway. He is a man within great portion of common senseand heart--yes, a warm heart. This is not the first time I have remarkedheart without sentiment; they are distinct. The former depends on therectitude of the feelings, on truth of sympathy; these characters havemore tenderness than passion; the latter has a higher source--call itimagination, genius, or what you will, it is something very different. Ihave been laughing with these simple worthy folk--to give you one of myhalf-score Danish words--and letting as much of my heart flow out insympathy as they can take. Adieu! I must trip up the rocks. The rainis ever. Let me catch pleasure on the wing--I may be melancholyto-morrow. Now all my nerves keep time with the melody of nature. Ah!let me be happy whilst I can. The tear starts as I think of it. I mustflee from thought, and find refuge from sorrow in a strongimagination--the only solace for a feeling heart. Phantoms of bliss!ideal forms of excellence! again enclose me in your magic circle, andwipe clear from my remembrance the disappointments that reader thesympathy painful, which experience rather increases than damps, by givingthe indulgence of feeling the sanction of reason. 

Once more farewell!

LETTER XI. 

I left Portoer, the little haven I mentioned, soon after I finished mylast letter. The sea was rough, and I perceived that our pilot was rightnot to venture farther during a hazy night. We had agreed to pay fourdollars for a boat from Helgeraac. I mention the sum, because they woulddemand twice as much from a stranger. I was obliged to pay fifteen forthe one I hired at Stromstad. When we were ready to set out, our boatmanoffered to return a dollar and let us go in one of the boats of theplace, the pilot who lived there being better acquainted with the coast. He only demanded a dollar and a half, which was reasonable. I found hima civil and rather intelligent man; he was in the American serviceseveral years, during the Revolution. 

I soon perceived that an experienced mariner was necessary to guide us, for we were continually obliged to tack about, to avoid the rocks, which, scarcely reaching to the surface of the water, could only be discoveredby the breaking of the waves over them. 

The view of this wild coast, as we sailed along it, afforded me acontinual subject for meditation. I anticipated the future improvementof the world, and observed how much man has still to do to obtain of theearth all it could yield. I even carried my speculations so far as toadvance a million or two of years to the moment when the earth wouldperhaps be so perfectly cultivated, and so completely peopled, as torender it necessary to inhabit every spot--yes, these bleak shores. Imagination went still farther, and pictured the state of man when theearth could no longer support him. Whither was he to flee from universalfamine? Do not smile; I really became distressed for these fellowcreatures yet unborn. The images fastened on me, and the world appeareda vast prison. I was soon to be in a smaller one--for no other name canI give to Rusoer. It would be difficult to form an idea of the place, ifyou have never seen one of these rocky coasts. 

We were a considerable time entering amongst the islands, before we sawabout two hundred houses crowded together under a very high rock--stillhigher appearing above. Talk not of Bastilles! To be born here was tobe bastilled by nature--shut out from all that opens the understanding, or enlarges the heart. Huddled one behind another, not more than aquarter of the dwellings even had a prospect of the sea. A few planksformed passages from house to house, which you must often scale, mountingsteps like a ladder to enter. 

The only road across the rocks leads to a habitation sterile enough, youmay suppose, when I tell you that the little earth on the adjacent oneswas carried there by the late inhabitant. A path, almost impracticablefor a horse, goes on to Arendall, still further to the westward. 

I inquired for a walk, and, mounting near two hundred steps made round arock, walked up and down for about a hundred yards viewing the sea, towhich I quickly descended by steps that cheated the declivity. The oceanand these tremendous bulwarks enclosed me on every side. I felt theconfinement, and wished for wings to reach still loftier cliffs, whoseslippery sides no foot was so hardy as to tread. Yet what was it tosee?--only a boundless waste of water--not a glimpse of smilingnature--not a patch of lively green to relieve the aching sight, or varythe objects of meditation. 

I felt my breath oppressed, though nothing could be clearer than theatmosphere. Wandering there alone, I found the solitude desirable; mymind was stored with ideas, which this new scene associated withastonishing rapidity. But I shuddered at the thought of receivingexistence, and remaining here, in the solitude of ignorance, till forcedto leave a world of which I had seen so little, for the character of theinhabitants is as uncultivated, if not as picturesquely wild, as theirabode. 

Having no employment but traffic, of which a contraband trade makes thebasis of their profit, the coarsest feelings of honesty are quicklyblunted. You may suppose that I speak in general terms; and that, withall the disadvantages of nature and circumstances, there are still somerespectable exceptions, the more praiseworthy, as tricking is a verycontagious mental disease, that dries up all the generous juices of theheart. Nothing genial, in fact, appears around this place, or within thecircle of its rocks. And, now I recollect, it seems to me that the mostgenial and humane characters I have met with in life were most alive tothe sentiments inspired by tranquil country scenes. What, indeed, is tohumanise these beings, who rest shut up (for they seldom even open theirwindows), smoking, drinking brandy, and driving bargains? I have beenalmost stifled by these smokers. They begin in the morning, and arerarely without their pipe till they go to bed. Nothing can be moredisgusting than the rooms and men towards the evening--breath, teeth, clothes, and furniture, all are spoilt. It is well that the women arenot very delicate, or they would only love their husbands because theywere their husbands. Perhaps, you may add, that the remark need not beconfined to so small a part of the world; and, _entre nous_, I am of thesame opinion. You must not term this innuendo saucy, for it does notcome home. 

If I had not determined to write I should have found my confinement here, even for three or four days, tedious. I have no books; and to pace upand down a small room, looking at tiles overhung by rocks, soon becomeswearisome. I cannot mount two hundred steps to walk a hundred yards manytimes in the day. Besides, the rocks, retaining the heat of the sun, areintolerably warm. I am, nevertheless, very well; for though there is ashrewdness in the character of these people, depraved by a sordid love ofmoney which repels me, still the comparisons they force me to make keepmy heart calm by exercising my understanding. 

Everywhere wealth commands too much respect, but here almost exclusively;and it is the only object pursued, not through brake and briar, but overrocks and waves; yet of what use would riches be to me, I have sometimesasked myself, were I confined to live in such in a spot? I could onlyrelieve a few distressed objects, perhaps render them idle, and all therest of life would be a blank. 

My present journey has given fresh force to my opinion that no place isso disagreeable and unimproving as a country town. I should like todivide my time between the town and country; in a lone house, with thebusiness of farming and planting, where my mind would gain strength bysolitary musing, and in a metropolis to rub off the rust of thought, andpolish the taste which the contemplation of nature had rendered just. Thus do we wish as we float down the stream of life, whilst chance doesmore to gratify a desire of knowledge than our best laid plans. A degreeof exertion, produced by some want, more or less painful, is probably theprice we must all pay for knowledge. How few authors or artists havearrived at eminence who have not lived by their employment?

I was interrupted yesterday by business, and was prevailed upon to dinewith the English vice-consul. His house being open to the sea, I wasmore at large; and the hospitality of the table pleased me, though thebottle was rather too freely pushed about. Their manner of entertainingwas such as I have frequently remarked when I have been thrown in the wayof people without education, who have more money than wit--that is, thanthey know what to do with. The women were unaffected, but had not thenatural grace which was often conspicuous at Tonsberg. There was even astriking difference in their dress, these having loaded themselves withfinery in the style of the sailors' girls of Hull or Portsmouth. Tastehas not yet taught them to make any but an ostentatious display ofwealth. Yet I could perceive even here the first steps of theimprovement which I am persuaded will make a very obvious progress in thecourse of half a century, and it ought not to be sooner, to keep pacewith the cultivation of the earth. Improving manners will introducefiner moral feelings. They begin to read translations of some of themost useful German productions lately published, and one of our partysung a song ridiculing the powers coalesced against France, and thecompany drank confusion to those who had dismembered Poland. 

The evening was extremely calm and beautiful. Not being able to walk, Irequested a boat as the only means of enjoying free air. 

The view of the town was now extremely fine. A huge rocky mountain stoodup behind it, and a vast cliff stretched on each side, forming asemicircle. In a recess of the rocks was a clump of pines, amongst whicha steeple rose picturesquely beautiful. 

The churchyard is almost the only verdant spot in the place. Here, indeed, friendship extends beyond the grave, and to grant a sod of earthis to accord a favour. I should rather choose, did it admit of a choice, to sleep in some of the caves of the rocks, for I am become betterreconciled to them since I climbed their craggy sides last night, listening to the finest echoes I ever heard. We had a French horn withus, and there was an enchanting wildness in the dying away of thereverberation that quickly transported me to Shakespeare's magic island. Spirits unseen seemed to walk abroad, and flit from cliff to cliff tosoothe my soul to peace. 

I reluctantly returned to supper, to be shut up in a warm room, only toview the vast shadows of the rocks extending on the slumbering waves. Istood at the window some time before a buzz filled the drawing-room, andnow and then the dashing of a solitary oar rendered the scene still moresolemn. 

Before I came here I could scarcely have imagined that a simple object(rocks) could have admitted of so many interesting combinations, alwaysgrand and often sublime. Good night! God bless you!

LETTER XII. 

I left East Rusoer the day before yesterday. The weather was very fine;but so calm that we loitered on the water near fourteen hours, only tomake about six and twenty miles. 

It seemed to me a sort of emancipation when we landed at Helgeraac. Theconfinement which everywhere struck me whilst sojourning amongst therocks, made me hail the earth as a land of promise; and the situationshone with fresh lustre from the contrast--from appearing to be a freeabode. Here it was possible to travel by land--I never thought this acomfort before--and my eyes, fatigued by the sparkling of the sun on thewater, now contentedly reposed on the green expanse, half persuaded thatsuch verdant meads had never till then regaled them. 

I rose early to pursue my journey to Tonsberg. The country still wore aface of joy--and my soul was alive to its charms. Leaving the most loftyand romantic of the cliffs behind us, we were almost continuallydescending to Tonsberg, through Elysian scenes; for not only the sea, butmountains, rivers, lakes, and groves, gave an almost endless variety tothe prospect. The cottagers were still carrying home the hay; and thecottages on this road looked very comfortable. Peace and plenty--I meannot abundance--seemed to reign around--still I grew sad as I drew near myold abode. I was sorry to see the sun so high; it was broad noon. Tonsberg was something like a home--yet I was to enter without lightingup pleasure in any eye. I dreaded the solitariness of my apartment, andwished for night to hide the starting tears, or to shed them on mypillow, and close my eyes on a world where I was destined to wanderalone. Why has nature so many charms for me--calling forth andcherishing refined sentiments, only to wound the breast that fostersthem? How illusive, perhaps the most so, are the plans of happinessfounded on virtue and principle; what inlets of misery do they not openin a half-civilised society? The satisfaction arising from consciousrectitude, will not calm an injured heart, when tenderness is everfinding excuses; and self-applause is a cold solitary feeling, thatcannot supply the place of disappointed affection, without throwing agloom over every prospect, which, banishing pleasure, does not excludepain. I reasoned and reasoned; but my heart was too full to allow me toremain in the house, and I walked, till I was wearied out, to purchaserest--or rather forgetfulness. 

Employment has beguiled this day, and to-morrow I set out for Moss, on myway to Stromstad. At Gothenburg I shall embrace my Fannikin; probablyshe will not know me again--and I shall be hurt if she do not. Howchildish is this! still it is a natural feeling. I would not permitmyself to indulge the "thick coming fears" of fondness, whilst I wasdetained by business. Yet I never saw a calf bounding in a meadow, thatdid not remind me of my little frolicker. A calf, you say. Yes; but acapital one I own. 

I cannot write composedly--I am every instant sinking into reveries--myheart flutters, I know not why. Fool! It is time thou wert at rest. 

Friendship and domestic happiness are continually praised; yet how littleis there of either in the world, because it requires more cultivation ofmind to keep awake affection, even in our own hearts, than the common runof people suppose. Besides, few like to be seen as they really are; anda degree of simplicity, and of undisguised confidence, which, touninterested observers, would almost border on weakness, is the charm, nay the essence of love or friendship, all the bewitching graces ofchildhood again appearing. As objects merely to exercise my taste, Itherefore like to see people together who have an affection for eachother; every turn of their features touches me, and remains pictured onmy imagination in indelible characters. The zest of novelty is, however, necessary to rouse the languid sympathies which have been hackneyed inthe world; as is the factitious behaviour, falsely termed good-breeding, to amuse those, who, defective in taste, continually rely for pleasure ontheir animal spirits, which not being maintained by the imagination, areunavoidably sooner exhausted than the sentiments of the heart. Friendshipis in general sincere at the commencement, and lasts whilst there isanything to support it; but as a mixture of novelty and vanity is theusual prop, no wonder if it fall with the slender stay. The fop in theplay paid a greater compliment than he was aware of when he said to aperson, whom he meant to flatter, "I like you almost as well as a _newacquaintance_. " Why am I talking of friendship, after which I have hadsuch a wild-goose chase. I thought only of telling you that the crows, as well as wild-geese, are here birds of passage. 

LETTER XIII. 

I left Tonsberg yesterday, the 22nd of August. It is only twelve orthirteen English miles to Moss, through a country less wild than anytract I had hitherto passed over in Norway. It was often beautiful, butseldom afforded those grand views which fill rather than soothe the mind. 

We glided along the meadows and through the woods, with sunbeams playingaround us; and, though no castles adorned the prospects, a greater numberof comfortable farms met my eyes during this ride than I have ever seen, in the same space, even in the most cultivated part of England; and thevery appearance of the cottages of the labourers sprinkled amidst themexcluded all those gloomy ideas inspired by the contemplation of poverty. 

The hay was still bringing in, for one harvest in Norway treads on theheels of the other. The woods were more variegated, interspersed withshrubs. We no longer passed through forests of vast pines stretchingalong with savage magnificence. Forests that only exhibited the slowdecay of time or the devastation produced by warring elements. No; oaks, ashes, beech, and all the light and graceful tenants of our woods heresported luxuriantly. I had not observed many oaks before, for thegreater part of the oak-planks, I am informed, come from the westward. 

In France the farmers generally live in villages, which is a greatdisadvantage to the country; but the Norwegian farmers, always owningtheir farms or being tenants for life, reside in the midst of them, allowing some labourers a dwelling rent free, who have a little landappertaining to the cottage, not only for a garden, but for crops ofdifferent kinds, such as rye, oats, buck-wheat, hemp, flax, beans, potatoes, and hay, which are sown in strips about it, reminding astranger of the first attempts at culture, when every family was obligedto be an independent community. 

These cottagers work at a certain price (tenpence per day) for thefarmers on whose ground they live, and they have spare time enough tocultivate their own land and lay in a store of fish for the winter. Thewives and daughters spin and the husbands and sons weave, so that theymay fairly be reckoned independent, having also a little money in hand tobuy coffee, brandy and some other superfluities. 

The only thing I disliked was the military service, which trammels themmore than I at first imagined. It is true that the militia is onlycalled out once a year, yet in case of war they have no alternative butmust abandon their families. Even the manufacturers are not exempted, though the miners are, in order to encourage undertakings which require acapital at the commencement. And, what appears more tyrannical, theinhabitants of certain districts are appointed for the land, others forthe sea service. Consequently, a peasant, born a soldier, is notpermitted to follow his inclination should it lead him to go to sea, anatural desire near so many seaports. 

In these regulations the arbitrary government--the King of Denmark beingthe most absolute monarch in Europe--appears, which in other respectsseeks to hide itself in a lenity that almost renders the laws nullities. If any alteration of old customs is thought of, the opinion of the oldcountry is required and maturely considered. I have several times hadoccasion to observe that, fearing to appear tyrannical, laws are allowedto become obsolete which ought to be put in force or better substitutedin their stead; for this mistaken moderation, which borders on timidity, favours the least respectable part of the people. 

I saw on my way not only good parsonage houses, but comfortabledwellings, with glebe land for the clerk, always a consequential man inevery country, a being proud of a little smattering of learning, to usethe appropriate epithet, and vain of the stiff good-breeding reflectedfrom the vicar, though the servility practised in his company gives it apeculiar cast. 

The widow of the clergyman is allowed to receive the benefit of theliving for a twelvemonth after the death of the incumbent. 

Arriving at the ferry (the passage over to Moss is about six or eightEnglish miles) I saw the most level shore I had yet seen in Norway. Theappearance of the circumjacent country had been preparing me for thechange of scene which was to greet me when I reached the coast. For thegrand features of nature had been dwindling into prettiness as Iadvanced; yet the rocks, on a smaller scale, were finely wooded to thewater's edge. Little art appeared, yet sublimity everywhere gave placeto elegance. The road had often assumed the appearance of a gravelledone, made in pleasure-grounds; whilst the trees excited only an idea ofembellishment. Meadows, like lawns, in an endless variety, displayed thecareless graces of nature; and the ripening corn gave a richness to thelandscape analogous with the other objects. 

Never was a southern sky more beautiful, nor more soft its gales. Indeed, I am led to conclude that the sweetest summer in the world is thenorthern one, the vegetation being quick and luxuriant the moment theearth is loosened from its icy fetters and the bound streams regain theirwonted activity. The balance of happiness with respect to climate may bemore equal than I at first imagined; for the inhabitants describe withwarmth the pleasures of a winter at the thoughts of which I shudder. Notonly their parties of pleasure but of business are reserved for thisseason, when they travel with astonishing rapidity the most direct way, skimming over hedge and ditch. 

On entering Moss I was struck by the animation which seemed to resultfrom industry. The richest of the inhabitants keep shops, resembling intheir manners and even the arrangement of their houses the tradespeopleof Yorkshire; with an air of more independence, or rather consequence, from feeling themselves the first people in the place. I had not time tosee the iron-works, belonging to Mr. Anker, of Christiania, a man offortune and enterprise; and I was not very anxious to see them afterhaving viewed those at Laurvig. 

Here I met with an intelligent literary man, who was anxious to gatherinformation from me relative to the past and present situation of France. The newspapers printed at Copenhagen, as well as those in England, givethe most exaggerated accounts of their atrocities and distresses, but theformer without any apparent comments or inferences. Still theNorwegians, though more connected with the English, speaking theirlanguage and copying their manners, wish well to the Republican cause, and follow with the most lively interest the successes of the Frencharms. So determined were they, in fact, to excuse everything, disgracingthe struggle of freedom, by admitting the tyrant's plea, necessity, thatI could hardly persuade them that Robespierre was a monster. 

The discussion of this subject is not so general as in England, beingconfined to the few, the clergy and physicians, with a small portion ofpeople who have a literary turn and leisure; the greater part of theinhabitants having a variety of occupations, being owners of ships, shopkeepers, and farmers, have employment enough at home. And theirambition to become rich may tend to cultivate the common sense whichcharacterises and narrows both their hearts and views, confirming theformer to their families, taking the handmaids of it into the circle ofpleasure, if not of interest, and the latter to the inspection of theirworkmen, including the noble science of bargain-making--that is, gettingeverything at the cheapest, and selling it at the dearest rate. I am nowmore than ever convinced that it is an intercourse with men of scienceand artists which not only diffuses taste, but gives that freedom to theunderstanding without which I have seldom met with much benevolence ofcharacter on a large scale. 

Besides, though you do not hear of much pilfering and stealing in Norway, yet they will, with a quiet conscience, buy things at a price which mustconvince them they were stolen. I had an opportunity of knowing that twoor three reputable people had purchased some articles of vagrants, whowere detected. How much of the virtue which appears in the world is puton for the world? And how little dictated by self-respect?--so little, that I am ready to repeat the old question, and ask, Where is truth, orrather principle, to be found? These are, perhaps, the vapourings of aheart ill at ease--the effusions of a sensibility wounded almost tomadness. But enough of this; we will discuss the subject in anotherstate of existence, where truth and justice will reign. How cruel arethe injuries which make us quarrel with human nature! At present blackmelancholy hovers round my footsteps; and sorrow sheds a mildew over allthe future prospects, which hope no longer gilds. 

A rainy morning prevented my enjoying the pleasure the view of apicturesque country would have afforded me; for though this road passedthrough a country a greater extent of which was under cultivation than Ihad usually seen here, it nevertheless retained all the wild charms ofNorway. Rocks still enclosed the valleys, the great sides of whichenlivened their verdure. Lakes appeared like branches of the sea, andbranches of the sea assumed the appearance of tranquil lakes; whilststreamlets prattled amongst the pebbles and the broken mass of stonewhich had rolled into them, giving fantastic turns to the trees, theroots of which they bared. 

It is not, in fact, surprising that the pine should be often undermined;it shoots its fibres in such a horizontal direction, merely on thesurface of the earth, requiring only enough to cover those that cling tothe crags. Nothing proves to me so clearly that it is the air whichprincipally nourishes trees and plants as the flourishing appearance ofthese pines. The firs, demanding a deeper soil, are seldom seen in equalhealth, or so numerous on the barren cliffs. They take shelter in thecrevices, or where, after some revolving ages, the pines have preparedthem a footing. 

Approaching, or rather descending, to Christiania, though the weathercontinued a little cloudy, my eyes were charmed with the view of anextensive undulated valley, stretching out under the shelter of a nobleamphitheatre of pine-covered mountains. Farm houses scattered aboutanimated, nay, graced a scene which still retained so much of its nativewildness, that the art which appeared seemed so necessary, it wasscarcely perceived. Cattle were grazing in the shaven meadows; and thelively green on their swelling sides contrasted with the ripening cornand rye. The corn that grew on the slopes had not, indeed, the laughingluxuriance of plenty, which I have seen in more genial climes. A freshbreeze swept across the grain, parting its slender stalks, but the wheatdid not wave its head with its wonted careless dignity, as if nature hadcrowned it the king of plants. 

The view, immediately on the left, as we drove down the mountain, wasalmost spoilt by the depredations committed on the rocks to make alum. Ido not know the process. I only saw that the rocks looked red after theyhad been burnt, and regretted that the operation should leave a quantityof rubbish to introduce an image of human industry in the shape ofdestruction. The situation of Christiania is certainly uncommonly fine, and I never saw a bay that so forcibly gave me an idea of a place ofsafety from the storms of the ocean; all the surrounding objects werebeautiful and even grand. But neither the rocky mountains, nor the woodsthat graced them, could be compared with the sublime prospects I had seento the westward; and as for the hills, "capped with _eternal_ snow, " Mr. Coxe's description led me to look for them, but they had flown, for Ilooked vainly around for this noble background. 

A few months ago the people of Christiania rose, exasperated by thescarcity and consequent high price of grain. The immediate cause was theshipping of some, said to be for Moss, but which they suspected was onlya pretext to send it out of the country, and I am not sure that they werewrong in their conjecture. Such are the tricks of trade. They threwstones at Mr. Anker, the owner of it, as he rode out of town to escapefrom their fury; they assembled about his house, and the people demandedafterwards, with so much impetuosity, the liberty of those who were takenup in consequence of the tumult, that the Grand Bailiff thought itprudent to release them without further altercation. 

You may think me too severe on commerce, but from the manner it is atpresent carried on little can be advanced in favour of a pursuit thatwears out the most sacred principles of humanity and rectitude. What isspeculation but a species of gambling, I might have said fraud, in whichaddress generally gains the prize? I was led into these reflections whenI heard of some tricks practised by merchants, miscalled reputable, andcertainly men of property, during the present war, in which commonhonesty was violated: damaged goods and provision having been shipped forthe express purpose of falling into the hands of the English, who hadpledged themselves to reimburse neutral nations for the cargoes theyseized; cannon also, sent back as unfit for service, have been shipped asa good speculation, the captain receiving orders to cruise about till hefell in with an English frigate. Many individuals I believe havesuffered by the seizures of their vessels; still I am persuaded that theEnglish Government has been very much imposed upon in the charges made bymerchants who contrived to get their ships taken. This censure is notconfined to the Danes. Adieu, for the present, I must take advantage ofa moment of fine weather to walk out and see the town. 

At Christiania I met with that polite reception, which rathercharacterises the progress of manners in the world, than of anyparticular portion of it. The first evening of my arrival I supped withsome of the most fashionable people of the place, and almost imaginedmyself in a circle of English ladies, so much did they resemble them inmanners, dress, and even in beauty; for the fairest of my countrywomenwould not have been sorry to rank with the Grand Bailiff's lady. Therewere several pretty girls present, but she outshone them all, and, whatinterested me still more, I could not avoid observing that in acquiringthe easy politeness which distinguishes people of quality, she hadpreserved her Norwegian simplicity. There was, in fact, a gracefultimidity in her address, inexpressibly charming. This surprised me alittle, because her husband was quite a Frenchman of the _ancien regime_, or rather a courtier, the same kind of animal in every country. 

Here I saw the cloven foot of despotism. I boasted to you that they hadno viceroy in Norway, but these Grand Bailiffs, particularly the superiorone, who resides at Christiania, are political monsters of the samespecies. Needy sycophants are provided for by their relations andconnections at Copenhagen as at other courts. And though the Norwegiansare not in the abject state of the Irish, yet this second-hand governmentis still felt by their being deprived of several natural advantages tobenefit the domineering state. 

The Grand Bailiffs are mostly noblemen from Copenhagen, who act as men ofcommon minds will always act in such situations--aping a degree ofcourtly parade which clashes with the independent character of amagistrate. Besides, they have a degree of power over the countryjudges, which some of them, who exercise a jurisdiction truly patriarchalmost painfully feel. I can scarcely say why, my friend, but in this citythoughtfulness seemed to be sliding into melancholy or rather dulness. The fire of fancy, which had been kept alive in the country, was almostextinguished by reflections on the ills that harass such a large portionof mankind. I felt like a bird fluttering on the ground unable to mount, yet unwilling to crawl tranquilly like a reptile, whilst still consciousit had wings. 

I walked out, for the open air is always my remedy when an aching headproceeds from an oppressed heart. Chance directed my steps towards thefortress, and the sight of the slaves, working with chains on their legs, only served to embitter me still more against the regulations of society, which treated knaves in such a different manner, especially as there wasa degree of energy in some of their countenances which unavoidablyexcited my attention, and almost created respect. 

I wished to have seen, through an iron grate, the face of a man who hasbeen confined six years for having induced the farmers to revolt againstsome impositions of the Government. I could not obtain a clear accountof the affair, yet, as the complaint was against some farmers of taxes, Iam inclined to believe that it was not totally without foundation. Hemust have possessed some eloquence, or have had truth on his side; forthe farmers rose by hundreds to support him, and were very muchexasperated at his imprisonment, which will probably last for life, though he has sent several very spirited remonstrances to the uppercourt, which makes the judges so averse to giving a sentence which may becavilled at, that they take advantage of the glorious uncertainty of thelaw, to protract a decision which is only to be regulated by reasons ofstate. 

The greater number of the slaves I saw here were not confined for life. Their labour is not hard; and they work in the open air, which preventstheir constitutions from suffering by imprisonment. Still, as they areallowed to associate together, and boast of their dexterity, not only toeach other but to the soldiers around them, in the garrison; theycommonly, it is natural to conclude, go out more confirmed and moreexpert knaves than when they entered. 

It is not necessary to trace the origin of the association of ideas whichled me to think that the stars and gold keys, which surrounded me theevening before, disgraced the wearers as much as the fetters I wasviewing--perhaps more. I even began to investigate the reason, which ledme to suspect that the former produced the latter. 

The Norwegians are extravagantly fond of courtly distinction, and oftitles, though they have no immunities annexed to them, and are easilypurchased. The proprietors of mines have many privileges: they arealmost exempt from taxes, and the peasantry born on their estates, aswell as those on the counts', are not born soldiers or sailors. 

One distinction, or rather trophy of nobility, which I might haveoccurred to the Hottentots, amused me; it was a bunch of hog's bristlesplaced on the horses' heads, surmounting that part of the harness towhich a round piece of brass often dangles, fatiguing the eye with itsidle motion. 

From the fortress I returned to my lodging, and quickly was taken out oftown to be shown a pretty villa, and English garden. To a Norwegian bothmight have been objects of curiosity; and of use, by exciting to thecomparison which leads to improvement. But whilst I gazed, I wasemployed in restoring the place to nature, or taste, by giving it thecharacter of the surrounding scene. Serpentine walks, andflowering-shrubs, looked trifling in a grand recess of the rooks, shadedby towering pines. Groves of smaller trees might have been shelteredunder them, which would have melted into the landscape, displaying onlythe art which ought to point out the vicinity of a human abode, furnishedwith some elegance. But few people have sufficient taste to discern, that the art of embellishing consists in interesting, not in astonishing. 

Christiania is certainly very pleasantly situated, and the environs Ipassed through, during this ride, afforded many fine and cultivatedprospects; but, excepting the first view approaching to it, rarelypresent any combination of objects so strikingly new, or picturesque, asto command remembrance. Adieu!

LETTER XIV. 

Christiania is a clean, neat city; but it has none of the graces ofarchitecture, which ought to keep pace with the refining manners of apeople--or the outside of the house will disgrace the inside, giving thebeholder an idea of overgrown wealth devoid of taste. Large squarewooden houses offend the eye, displaying more than Gothic barbarism. HugeGothic piles, indeed, exhibit a characteristic sublimity, and a wildnessof fancy peculiar to the period when they were erected; but size, withoutgrandeur or elegance, has an emphatical stamp of meanness, of poverty ofconception, which only a commercial spirit could give. 

The same thought has struck me, when I have entered the meeting-house ofmy respected friend, Dr. Price. I am surprised that the dissenters, whohave not laid aside all the pomps and vanities of life, should imagine anoble pillar, or arch, unhallowed. Whilst men have senses, whateversoothes them lends wings to devotion; else why do the beauties of nature, where all that charm them are spread around with a lavish hand, forceeven the sorrowing heart to acknowledge that existence is a blessing? andthis acknowledgment is the most sublime homage we can pay to the Deity. 

The argument of convenience is absurd. Who would labour for wealth, ifit were to procure nothing but conveniences. If we wish to rendermankind moral from principle, we must, I am persuaded, give a greaterscope to the enjoyments of the senses by blending taste with them. Thishas frequently occurred to me since I have been in the north, andobserved that there sanguine characters always take refuge in drunkennessafter the fire of youth is spent. 

But I have flown from Norway. To go back to the wooden houses; farmsconstructed with logs, and even little villages, here erected in the samesimple manner, have appeared to me very picturesque. In the more remoteparts I had been particularly pleased with many cottages situated closeto a brook, or bordering on a lake, with the whole farm contiguous. Asthe family increases, a little more land is cultivated; thus the countryis obviously enriched by population. Formerly the farmers might morejustly have been termed woodcutters. But now they find it necessary tospare the woods a little, and this change will be universally beneficial;for whilst they lived entirely by selling the trees they felled, they didnot pay sufficient attention to husbandry; consequently, advanced veryslowly in agricultural knowledge. Necessity will in future more and morespur them on; for the ground, cleared of wood, must be cultivated, or thefarm loses its value; there is no waiting for food till anothergeneration of pines be grown to maturity. 

The people of property are very careful of their timber; and, ramblingthrough a forest near Tonsberg, belonging to the Count, I have stopped toadmire the appearance of some of the cottages inhabited by a woodman'sfamily--a man employed to cut down the wood necessary for the householdand the estate. A little lawn was cleared, on which several lofty treeswere left which nature had grouped, whilst the encircling firs sportedwith wild grace. The dwelling was sheltered by the forest, noble pinesspreading their branches over the roof; and before the door a cow, goat, nag, and children, seemed equally content with their lot; and ifcontentment be all we can attain, it is, perhaps, best secured byignorance. 

As I have been most delighted with the country parts of Norway, I wassorry to leave Christiania without going farther to the north, though theadvancing season admonished me to depart, as well as the calls ofbusiness and affection. 

June and July are the months to make a tour through Norway; for then theevenings and nights are the finest I have ever seen; but towards themiddle or latter end of August the clouds begin to gather, and summerdisappears almost before it has ripened the fruit of autumn--even, as itwere, slips from your embraces, whilst the satisfied senses seem to restin enjoyment. 

You will ask, perhaps, why I wished to go farther northward. Why? notonly because the country, from all I can gather, is most romantic, abounding in forests and lakes, and the air pure, but I have heard muchof the intelligence of the inhabitants, substantial farmers, who havenone of that cunning to contaminate their simplicity, which displeased meso much in the conduct of the people on the sea coast. A man who hasbeen detected in any dishonest act can no longer live among them. He isuniversally shunned, and shame becomes the severest punishment. 

Such a contempt have they, in fact, for every species of fraud, that theywill not allow the people on the western coast to be their countrymen; somuch do they despise the arts for which those traders who live on therocks are notorious. 

The description I received of them carried me back to the fables of thegolden age: independence and virtue; affluence without vice; cultivationof mind, without depravity of heart; with "ever smiling Liberty;" thenymph of the mountain. I want faith!

My imagination hurries me forward to seek an asylum in such a retreatfrom all the disappointments I am threatened with; but reason drags meback, whispering that the world is still the world, and man the samecompound of weakness and folly, who must occasionally excite love anddisgust, admiration and contempt. But this description, though it seemsto have been sketched by a fairy pencil, was given me by a man of soundunderstanding, whose fancy seldom appears to run away with him. 

A law in Norway, termed the _odels right_, has lately been modified, andprobably will be abolished as an impediment to commerce. The heir of anestate had the power of re-purchasing it at the original purchase money, making allowance for such improvements as were absolutely necessary, during the space of twenty years. At present ten is the term allowed forafterthought; and when the regulation was made, all the men of abilitieswere invited to give their opinion whether it were better to abrogate ormodify it. It is certainly a convenient and safe way of mortgaging land;yet the most rational men whom I conversed with on the subject seemedconvinced that the right was more injurious than beneficial to society;still if it contribute to keep the farms in the farmers' own hands, Ishould be sorry to hear that it were abolished. 

The aristocracy in Norway, if we keep clear of Christiania, is far frombeing formidable; and it will require a long the to enable the merchantsto attain a sufficient moneyed interest to induce them to reinforce theupper class at the expense of the yeomanry, with whom they are usuallyconnected. 

England and America owe their liberty to commerce, which created newspecies of power to undermine the feudal system. But let them beware ofthe consequence; the tyranny of wealth is still more galling and debasingthan that of rank. 

Farewell! I must prepare for my departure. 

LETTER XV. 

I left Christiania yesterday. The weather was not very fine, and havingbeen a little delayed on the road, I found that it was too late to goround, a couple of miles, to see the cascade near Fredericstadt, which Ihad determined to visit. Besides, as Fredericstadt is a fortress, it wasnecessary to arrive there before they shut the gate. 

The road along the river is very romantic, though the views are notgrand; and the riches of Norway, its timber, floats silently down thestream, often impeded in its course by islands and little cataracts, theoffspring, as it were, of the great one I had frequently heard described. 

I found an excellent inn at Fredericstadt, and was gratified by the kindattention of the hostess, who, perceiving that my clothes were wet, tookgreat pains procure me, as a stranger, every comfort for the night. 

It had rained very hard, and we passed the ferry in the dark withoutgetting out of our carriage, which I think wrong, as the horses aresometimes unruly. Fatigue and melancholy, however, had made meregardless whether I went down or across the stream, and I did not knowthat I was wet before the hostess marked it. My imagination has neveryet severed me from my griefs, and my mind has seldom been so free as toallow my body to be delicate. 

How I am altered by disappointment! When going to Lisbon, the elasticityof my mind was sufficient to ward off weariness, and my imagination stillcould dip her brush in the rainbow of fancy, and sketch futurity inglowing colours. Now--but let me talk of something else--will you gowith me to the cascade?

The cross road to it was rugged and dreary; and though a considerableextent of land was cultivated on all sides, yet the rocks were entirelybare, which surprised me, as they were more on a level with the surfacethan any I had yet seen. On inquiry, however, I learnt that some yearssince a forest had been burnt. This appearance of desolation was beyondmeasure gloomy, inspiring emotions that sterility had never produced. Fires of this kind are occasioned by the wind suddenly rising when thefarmers are burning roots of trees, stalks of beans, &c, with which theymanure the ground. The devastation must, indeed, be terrible, when this, literally speaking, wildfire, runs along the forest, flying from top totop, and crackling amongst the branches. The soil, as well as the trees, is swept away by the destructive torrent; and the country, despoiled ofbeauty and riches, is left to mourn for ages. 

Admiring, as I do, these noble forests, which seem to bid defiance totime, I looked with pain on the ridge of rocks that stretched far beyondmy eye, formerly crowned with the most beautiful verdure. 

I have often mentioned the grandeur, but I feel myself unequal to thetask of conveying an idea of the beauty and elegance of the scene whenthe spiry tops of the pines are loaded with ripening seed, and the sungives a glow to their light-green tinge, which is changing into purple, one tree more or less advanced contrasted with another. The profusionwith which Nature has decked them with pendant honours, prevents allsurprise at seeing in every crevice some sapling struggling forexistence. Vast masses of stone are thus encircled, and roots torn up bythe storms become a shelter for a young generation. The pine and firwoods, left entirely to Nature, display an endless variety; and the pathsin the woods are not entangled with fallen leaves, which are onlyinteresting whilst they are fluttering between life and death. The greycobweb-like appearance of the aged pines is a much finer image of decay;the fibres whitening as they lose their moisture, imprisoned life seemsto be stealing away. I cannot tell why, but death, under every form, appears to me like something getting free to expand in I know not whatelement--nay, I feel that this conscious being must be as unfettered, have the wings of thought, before it can be happy. 

Reaching the cascade, or rather cataract, the roaring of which had a longtime announced its vicinity, my soul was hurried by the falls into a newtrain of reflections. The impetuous dashing of the rebounding torrentfrom the dark cavities which mocked the exploring eye produced an equalactivity in my mind. My thoughts darted from earth to heaven, and Iasked myself why I was chained to life and its misery. Still thetumultuous emotions this sublime object excited were pleasurable; and, viewing it, my soul rose with renewed dignity above its cares. Graspingat immortality--it seemed as impossible to stop the current of mythoughts, as of the always varying, still the same, torrent before me; Istretched out my hand to eternity, bounding over the dark speck of lifeto come. 

We turned with regret from the cascade. On a little hill, which commandsthe best view of it, several obelisks are erected to commemorate thevisits of different kings. The appearance of the river above and belowthe falls is very picturesque, the ruggedness of the scenery disappearingas the torrent subsides into a peaceful stream. But I did not like tosee a number of saw-mills crowded together close to the cataracts; theydestroyed the harmony of the prospect. 

The sight of a bridge erected across a deep valley, at a little distance, inspired very dissimilar sensations. It was most ingeniously supportedby mast-like trunks, just stripped of their branches; and logs, placedone across the other, produced an appearance equally light and firm, seeming almost to be built in the air when we were below it, the heighttaking from the magnitude of the supporting trees give them a slendergraceful look. 

There are two noble estates in this neighbourhood, the proprietors ofwhich seem to have caught more than their portion of the enterprisingspirit that is gone abroad. Many agricultural experiments have beenmade, and the country appears better enclosed and cultivated, yet thecottages had not the comfortable aspect of those I had observed near Mossand to the westward. Man is always debased by servitude of anydescription, and here the peasantry are not entirely free. Adieu!

I almost forgot to tell you that I did not leave Norway without makingsome inquiries after the monsters said to have been seen in the northernsea; but though I conversed with several captains, I could not meet withone who had ever heard any traditional description of them, much less hadany ocular demonstration of their existence. Till the fact is betterascertained, I should think the account of them ought to be torn out ofour geographical grammars. 

LETTER XVI. 

I set out from Fredericstadt about three o'clock in the afternoon, andexpected to reach Stromstad before the night closed in; but the winddying away, the weather became so calm that we scarcely made anyperceptible advances towards the opposite coast, though the men werefatigued with rowing. 

Getting amongst the rocks and islands as the moon rose, and the starsdarted forward out of the clear expanse, I forgot that the night stole onwhilst indulging affectionate reveries, the poetical fictions ofsensibility; I was not, therefore, aware of the length of time we hadbeen toiling to reach Stromstad. And when I began to look around, I didnot perceive anything to indicate that we were in its neighbourhood. Sofar from it, that when I inquired of the pilot, who spoke a littleEnglish, I found that he was only accustomed to coast along the Norwegianshore; and had been only once across to Stromstad. But he had broughtwith him a fellow better acquainted, he assured me, with the rocks bywhich they were to steer our course, for we had not a compass on board;yet, as he was half a fool, I had little confidence in his skill. Therewas then great reason to fear that we had lost our way, and were strayingamidst a labyrinth of rocks without a clue. 

This was something like an adventure, but not of the most agreeable cast;besides, I was impatient to arrive at Stromstad, to be able to sendforward that night a boy to order horses on the road to be ready, for Iwas unwilling to remain there a day without having anything to detain mefrom my little girl, and from the letters which I was impatient to getfrom you. 

I began to expostulate, and even to scold the pilot, for not havinginformed me of his ignorance previous to my departure. This made him rowwith more force, and we turned round one rock only to see another, equally destitute of the tokens we were in search of to tell us where wewere. Entering also into creek after creek which promised to be theentrance of the bay we were seeking, we advanced merely to find ourselvesrunning aground. 

The solitariness of the scene, as we glided under the dark shadows of therocks, pleased me for a while; but the fear of passing the whole nightthus wandering to and fro, and losing the next day, roused me. I beggedthe pilot to return to one of the largest islands, at the side of whichwe had seen a boat moored. As we drew nearer, a light through a windowon the summit became our beacon; but we were farther off than I supposed. 

With some difficulty the pilot got on shore, not distinguishing thelanding-place; and I remained in the boat, knowing that all the relief wecould expect was a man to direct us. After waiting some time, for thereis an insensibility in the very movements of these people that wouldweary more than ordinary patience, he brought with him a man who, assisting them to row, we landed at Stromstad a little after one in themorning. 

It was too late to send off a boy, but I did not go to bed before I hadmade the arrangements necessary to enable me to set out as early aspossible. 

The sun rose with splendour. My mind was too active to allow me toloiter long in bed, though the horses did not arrive till between sevenand eight. However, as I wished to let the boy, who went forward toorder the horses, get considerably the start of me, I bridled in myimpatience. 

This precaution was unavailing, for after the three first posts I had towait two hours, whilst the people at the post-house went, fair andsoftly, to the farm, to bid them bring up the horses which were carryingin the first-fruits of the harvest. I discovered here that thesesluggish peasants had their share of cunning. Though they had made mepay for a horse, the boy had gone on foot, and only arrived half an hourbefore me. This disconcerted the whole arrangement of the day; and beingdetained again three hours, I reluctantly determined to sleep atQuistram, two posts short of Uddervalla, where I had hoped to havearrived that night. 

But when I reached Quistram I found I could not approach the door of theinn for men, horses, and carts, cows, and pigs huddled together. Fromthe concourse of people I had met on the road I conjectured that therewas a fair in the neighbourhood; this crowd convinced me that it was buttoo true. The boisterous merriment that almost every instant produced aquarrel, or made me dread one, with the clouds of tobacco, and fumes ofbrandy, gave an infernal appearance to the scene. There was everythingto drive me back, nothing to excite sympathy in a rude tumult of thesenses, which I foresaw would end in a gross debauch. What was to bedone? No bed was to be had, or even a quiet corner to retire to for amoment; all was lost in noise, riot, and confusion. 

After some debating they promised me horses, which were to go on toUddervalla, two stages. I requested something to eat first, not havingdined; and the hostess, whom I have mentioned to you before as knowinghow to take care of herself, brought me a plate of fish, for which shecharged a rix-dollar and a half. This was making hay whilst the sunshone. I was glad to get out of the uproar, though not disposed totravel in an incommodious open carriage all night, had I thought thatthere was any chance of getting horses. 

Quitting Quistram I met a number of joyous groups, and though the eveningwas fresh many were stretched on the grass like weary cattle; and drunkenmen had fallen by the road-side. On a rock, under the shade of loftytrees, a large party of men and women had lighted a fire, cutting downfuel around to keep it alive all night. They were drinking, smoking, andlaughing with all their might and main. I felt for the trees whose tornbranches strewed the ground. Hapless nymphs! your haunts, I fear, werepolluted by many an unhallowed flame, the casual burst of the moment!

The horses went on very well; but when we drew near the post-house thepostillion stopped short and neither threats nor promises could prevailon him to go forward. He even began to howl and weep when I insisted onhis keeping his word. Nothing, indeed, can equal the stupid obstinacy ofsome of these half-alive beings, who seem to have been made by Prometheuswhen the fire he stole from Heaven was so exhausted that he could onlyspare a spark to give life, not animation, to the inert clay. 

It was some time before we could rouse anybody; and, as I expected, horses, we were told, could not be had in less than four or five hours. Iagain attempted to bribe the churlish brute who brought us there, but Idiscovered that, in spite of the courteous hostess's promises, he hadreceived orders not to go any father. 

As there was no remedy I entered, and was almost driven back by thestench--a softer phrase would not have conveyed an idea of the hot vapourthat issued from an apartment in which some eight or ten people weresleeping, not to reckon the cats and dogs stretched on the floor. Two orthree of the men or women were on the benches, others on old chests; andone figure started half out of a trunk to look at me, whom might havetaken for a ghost, had the chemise been white, to contrast with thesallow visage. But the costume of apparitions not being preserved Ipassed, nothing dreading, excepting the effluvia, warily amongst thepots, pans, milk-pails, and washing-tubs. After scaling a ruinousstaircase I was shown a bed-chamber. The bed did not invite me to enter;opening, therefore, the window, and taking some clean towels out of mynight-sack, I spread them over the coverlid, on which tired Nature foundrepose, in spite of the previous disgust. 

With the grey of the morn the birds awoke me; and descending to inquirefor the horses, I hastened through the apartment I have alreadydescribed, not wishing to associate the idea of a pigstye with that of ahuman dwelling. 

I do not now wonder that the girls lose their fine complexions at such anearly age, or that love here is merely an appetite to fulfil the maindesign of Nature, never enlivened by either affection or sentiment. 

For a few posts we found the horses waiting; but afterwards I wasretarded, as before, by the peasants, who, taking advantage of myignorance of the language, made me pay for the fourth horse that ought tohave gone forward to have the others in readiness, though it had neverbeen sent. I was particularly impatient at the last post, as I longed toassure myself that my child was well. 

My impatience, however, did not prevent my enjoying the journey. I hadsix weeks before passed over the same ground; still it had sufficientnovelty to attract my attention, and beguile, if not banish, the sorrowthat had taken up its abode in my heart. How interesting are the variedbeauties of Nature, and what peculiar charms characterise each season!The purple hue which the heath now assumed gave it a degree of richnessthat almost exceeded the lustre of the young green of spring, andharmonised exquisitely with the rays of the ripening corn. The weatherwas uninterruptedly fine, and the people busy in the fields cutting downthe corn, or binding up the sheaves, continually varied the prospect. Therocks, it is true, were unusually rugged and dreary; yet as the road runsfor a considerable way by the side of a fine river, with extendedpastures on the other side, the image of sterility was not thepredominant object, though the cottages looked still more miserable, after having seen the Norwegian farms. The trees likewise appeared of megrowth of yesterday, compared with those Nestors of the forest I havefrequently mentioned. The women and children were cutting off branchesfrom the beech, birch, oak, &c, and leaving them to dry. This way ofhelping out their fodder injures the trees. But the winters are so longthat the poor cannot afford to lay in a sufficient stock of hay. By suchmeans they just keep life in the poor cows, for little milk can beexpected when they are so miserably fed. 

It was Saturday, and the evening was uncommonly serene. In the villagesI everywhere saw preparations for Sunday; and I passed by a little carloaded with rye, that presented, for the pencil and heart, the sweetestpicture of a harvest home I had ever beheld. A little girl was mounted a-straddle on a shaggy horse, brandishing a stick over its head; the fatherwas walking at the side of the car with a child in his arms, who musthave come to meet him with tottering steps; the little creature wasstretching out its arms to cling round his neck; and a boy, just abovepetticoats, was labouring hard with a fork behind to keep the sheavesfrom falling. 

My eyes followed them to the cottage, and an involuntary sigh whisperedto my heart that I envied the mother, much as I dislike cooking, who waspreparing their pottage. I was returning to my babe, who may neverexperience a father's care or tenderness. The bosom that nurtured herheaved with a pang at the thought which only an unhappy mother couldfeel. 

Adieu!

LETTER XVII. 

I was unwilling to leave Gothenburg without visiting Trolhaettae. Iwished not only to see the cascade, but to observe the progress of thestupendous attempt to form a canal through the rocks, to the extent of anEnglish mile and a half. 

This work is carried on by a company, who employ daily nine hundred men;five years was the time mentioned in the proposals addressed to thepublic as necessary for the completion. A much more considerable sumthan the plan requires has been subscribed, for which there is everyreason to suppose the promoters will receive ample interest. 

The Danes survey the progress of this work with a jealous eye, as it isprincipally undertaken to get clear of the Sound duty. 

Arrived at Trolhaettae, I must own that the first view of the cascadedisappointed me; and the sight of the works, as they advanced, though agrand proof of human industry, was not calculated to warm the fancy. I, however, wandered about; and at last coming to the conflux of the variouscataracts rushing from different falls, struggling with the huge massesof rock, and rebounding from the profound cavities, I immediatelyretracted, acknowledging that it was indeed a grand object. A littleisland stood in the midst, covered with firs, which, by dividing thetorrent, rendered it more picturesque; one half appearing to issue from adark cavern, that fancy might easily imagine a vast fountain throwing upits waters from the very centre of the earth. 

I gazed I know not how long, stunned with the noise, and growing giddywith only looking at the never-ceasing tumultuous motion, I listened, scarcely conscious where I was, when I observed a boy, half obscured bythe sparkling foam, fishing under the impending rock on the other side. How he had descended I could not perceive; nothing like human footstepsappeared, and the horrific crags seemed to bid defiance even to thegoat's activity. It looked like an abode only fit for the eagle, thoughin its crevices some pines darted up their spiral heads; but they onlygrew near the cascade, everywhere else sterility itself reigned withdreary grandeur; for the huge grey massy rocks, which probably had beentorn asunder by some dreadful convulsion of nature, had not even theirfirst covering of a little cleaving moss. There were so many appearancesto excite the idea of chaos, that, instead of admiring the canal and theworks, great as they are termed, and little as they appear, I could nothelp regretting that such a noble scene had not been left in all itssolitary sublimity. Amidst the awful roaring of the impetuous torrents, the noise of human instruments and the bustle of workmen, even theblowing up of the rocks when grand masses trembled in the darkened air, only resembled the insignificant sport of children. 

One fall of water, partly made by art, when they were attempting toconstruct sluices, had an uncommonly grand effect; the water precipitateditself with immense velocity down a perpendicular, at least fifty orsixty yards, into a gulf, so concealed by the foam as to give full playto the fancy. There was a continual uproar. I stood on a rock toobserve it, a kind of bridge formed by nature, nearly on a level with thecommencement of the fall. After musing by it a long time I turnedtowards the other side, and saw a gentle stream stray calmly out. Ishould have concluded that it had no communication with the torrent had Inot seen a huge log that fell headlong down the cascade steal peacefullyinto the purling stream. 

I retired from these wild scenes with regret to a miserable inn, and nextmorning returned to Gothenburg, to prepare for my journey to Copenhagen. 

I was sorry to leave Gothenburg without travelling farther into Sweden, yet I imagine I should only have seen a romantic country thinlyinhabited, and these inhabitants struggling with poverty. The Norwegianpeasantry, mostly independent, have a rough kind of frankness in theirmanner; but the Swedish, rendered more abject by misery, have a degree ofpoliteness in their address which, though it may sometimes border oninsincerity, is oftener the effect of a broken spirit, rather softenedthan degraded by wretchedness. 

In Norway there are no notes in circulation of less value than a Swedishrix-dollar. A small silver coin, commonly not worth more than a penny, and never more than twopence, serves for change; but in Sweden they havenotes as low as sixpence. I never saw any silver pieces there, and couldnot without difficulty, and giving a premium, obtain the value of a rix-dollar in a large copper coin to give away on the road to the poor whoopen the gates. 

As another proof of the poverty of Sweden, I ought to mention thatforeign merchants who have acquired a fortune there are obliged todeposit the sixth part when they leave the kingdom. This law, you maysuppose, is frequently evaded. 

In fact, the laws here, as well as in Norway, are so relaxed that theyrather favour than restrain knavery. 

Whilst I was at Gothenburg, a man who had been confined for breaking openhis master's desk and running away with five or six thousand rix-dollars, was only sentenced to forty days' confinement on bread and water; andthis slight punishment his relations rendered nugatory by supplying himwith more savoury food. 

The Swedes are in general attached to their families, yet a divorce maybe obtained by either party on proving the infidelity of the other oracknowledging it themselves. The women do not often recur to this equalprivilege, for they either retaliate on their husbands by following theirown devices or sink into the merest domestic drudges, worn down bytyranny to servile submission. Do not term me severe if I add, thatafter youth is flown the husband becomes a sot, and the wife amusesherself by scolding her servants. In fact, what is to be expected in anycountry where taste and cultivation of mind do not supply the place ofyouthful beauty and animal spirits? Affection requires a firmerfoundation than sympathy, and few people have a principle of actionsufficiently stable to produce rectitude of feeling; for in spite of allthe arguments I have heard to justify deviations from duty, I ampersuaded that even the most spontaneous sensations are more under thedirection of principle than weak people are willing to allow. 

But adieu to moralising. I have been writing these last sheets at an innin Elsineur, where I am waiting for horses; and as they are not yetready, I will give you a short account of my journey from Gothenburg, forI set out the morning after I returned from Trolhaettae. 

The country during the first day's journey presented a most barrenappearance, as rocky, yet not so picturesque as Norway, because on adiminutive scale. We stopped to sleep at a tolerable inn inFalckersberg, a decent little town. 

The next day beeches and oaks began to grace the prospects, the sea everynow and then appearing to give them dignity. I could not avoid observingalso, that even in this part of Sweden, one of the most sterile, as I wasinformed, there was more ground under cultivation than in Norway. Plainsof varied crops stretched out to a considerable extent, and sloped downto the shore, no longer terrific. And, as far as I could judge, fromglancing my eye over the country as we drove along, agriculture was in amore advanced state, though in the habitations a greater appearance ofpoverty still remained. The cottages, indeed, often looked mostuncomfortable, but never so miserable as those I had remarked on the roadto Stromstad, and the towns were equal, if not superior, to many of thelittle towns in Wales, or some I have passed through in my way fromCalais to Paris. 

The inns as we advanced were not to be complained of, unless I had alwaysthought of England. The people were civil, and much more moderate intheir demands than the Norwegians, particularly to the westward, wherethey boldly charge for what you never had, and seem to consider you, asthey do a wreck, if not as lawful prey, yet as a lucky chance, which theyought not to neglect to seize. 

The prospect of Elsineur, as we passed the Sound, was pleasant. I gavethree rix-dollars for my boat, including something to drink. I mentionthe sum, because they impose on strangers. 

Adieu! till I arrive at Copenhagen. 

LETTER XVIII. --COPENHAGEN. 

The distance from Elsineur to Copenhagen is twenty-two miles; the road isvery good, over a flat country diversified with wood, mostly beech, anddecent mansions. There appeared to be a great quantity of corn land, andthe soil looked much more fertile than it is in general so near the sea. The rising grounds, indeed, were very few, and around Copenhagen it is aperfect plain; of course has nothing to recommend it but cultivation, notdecorations. If I say that the houses did not disgust me, I tell you allI remember of them, for I cannot recollect any pleasurable sensationsthey excited, or that any object, produced by nature or art, took me outof myself. The view of the city, as we drew near, was rather grand, butwithout any striking feature to interest the imagination, excepting thetrees which shade the footpaths. 

Just before I reached Copenhagen I saw a number of tents on a wide plain, and supposed that the rage for encampments had reached this city; but Isoon discovered that they were the asylum of many of the poor familieswho had been driven out of their habitations by the late fire. 

Entering soon after, I passed amongst the dust and rubbish it had left, affrighted by viewing the extent of the devastation, for at least aquarter of the city had been destroyed. There was little in theappearance of fallen bricks and stacks of chimneys to allure theimagination into soothing melancholy reveries; nothing to attract the eyeof taste, but much to afflict the benevolent heart. The depredations oftime have always something in them to employ the fancy, or lead to musingon subjects which, withdrawing the mind from objects of sense, seem togive it new dignity; but here I was treading on live ashes. Thesufferers were still under the pressure of the misery occasioned by thisdreadful conflagration. I could not take refuge in the thought: theysuffered, but they are no more! a reflection I frequently summon to calmmy mind when sympathy rises to anguish. I therefore desired the driverto hasten to the hotel recommended to me, that I might avert my eyes andsnap the train of thinking which had sent me into all the corners of thecity in search of houseless heads. 

This morning I have been walking round the town, till I am weary ofobserving the ravages. I had often heard the Danes, even those who hadseen Paris and London, speak of Copenhagen with rapture. Certainly Ihave seen it in a very disadvantageous light, some of the best streetshaving been burnt, and the whole place thrown into confusion. Still theutmost that can, or could ever, I believe, have been said in its praise, might be comprised in a few words. The streets are open, and many of thehouses large; but I saw nothing to rouse the idea of elegance orgrandeur, if I except the circus where the king and prince royal reside. 

The palace, which was consumed about two years ago, must have been ahandsome, spacious building; the stone-work is still standing, and agreat number of the poor, during the late fire, took refuge in its ruinstill they could find some other abode. Beds were thrown on the landing-places of the grand staircase, where whole families crept from the cold, and every little nook is boarded up as a retreat for some poor creaturesdeprived of their home. At present a roof may be sufficient to shelterthem from the night air; but as the season advances, the extent of thecalamity will be more severely felt, I fear, though the exertions on thepart of Government are very considerable. Private charity has also, nodoubt, done much to alleviate the misery which obtrudes itself at everyturn; still, public spirit appears to me to be hardly alive here. Had itexisted, the conflagration might have been smothered in the beginning, asit was at last, by tearing down several houses before the flames hadreached them. To this the inhabitants would not consent; and the princeroyal not having sufficient energy of character to know when he ought tobe absolute, calmly let them pursue their own course, till the whole cityseemed to be threatened with destruction. Adhering, with puerilescrupulosity, to the law which he has imposed on himself, of actingexactly right, he did wrong by idly lamenting whilst he marked theprogress of a mischief that one decided step would have stopped. He wasafterwards obliged to resort to violent measures; but then, who couldblame him? And, to avoid censure, what sacrifices are not made by weakminds?

A gentleman who was a witness of the scene assured me, likewise, that ifthe people of property had taken half as much pains to extinguish thefire as to preserve their valuables and furniture, it would soon havebeen got under. But they who were not immediately in danger did notexert themselves sufficiently, till fear, like an electrical shock, roused all the inhabitants to a sense of the general evil. Even the fire-engines were out of order, though the burning of the palace ought to haveadmonished them of the necessity of keeping them in constant repair. Butthis kind of indolence respecting what does not immediately concern themseems to characterise the Danes. A sluggish concentration in themselvesmakes them so careful to preserve their property, that they will notventure on any enterprise to increase it in which there is a shadow ofhazard. 

Considering Copenhagen as the capital of Denmark and Norway, I wassurprised not to see so much industry or taste as in Christiania. Indeed, from everything I have had an opportunity of observing, the Danes are thepeople who have made the fewest sacrifices to the graces. 

The men of business are domestic tyrants, coldly immersed in their ownaffairs, and so ignorant of the state of other countries, that theydogmatically assert that Denmark is the happiest country in the world;the Prince Royal the best of all possible princes; and Count Bernstorffthe wisest of ministers. 

As for the women, they are simply notable housewives; withoutaccomplishments or any of the charms that adorn more advanced sociallife. This total ignorance may enable them to save something in theirkitchens, but it is far from rendering them better parents. On thecontrary, the children are spoiled, as they usually are when left to thecare of weak, indulgent mothers, who having no principle of action toregulate their feelings, become the slaves of infants, enfeebling bothbody and mind by false tenderness. 

I am, perhaps, a little prejudiced, as I write from the impression of themoment; for I have been tormented to-day by the presence of unrulychildren, and made angry by some invectives thrown out against thematernal character of the unfortunate Matilda. She was censured, withthe most cruel insinuation, for her management of her son, though, fromwhat I could gather, she gave proofs of good sense as well as tendernessin her attention to him. She used to bathe him herself every morning;insisted on his being loosely clad; and would not permit his attendantsto injure his digestion by humouring his appetite. She was equallycareful to prevent his acquiring haughty airs, and playing the tyrant inleading-strings. The Queen Dowager would not permit her to suckle him;but the next child being a daughter, and not the Heir-Apparent of theCrown, less opposition was made to her discharging the duty of a mother. 

Poor Matilda! thou hast haunted me ever since may arrival; and the view Ihave had of the manners of the country, exciting my sympathy, hasincreased my respect for thy memory. 

I am now fully convinced that she was the victim of the party shedisplaced, who would have overlooked or encouraged her attachment, hadnot her lover, aiming at being useful, attempted to overturn someestablished abuses before the people, ripe for the change, had sufficientspirit to support him when struggling in their behalf. Such indeed wasthe asperity sharpened against her that I have heard her, even after somany years have elapsed, charged with licentiousness, not only forendeavouring to render the public amusements more elegant, but for hervery charities, because she erected, amongst other institutions, ahospital to receive foundlings. Disgusted with many customs which passfor virtues, though they are nothing more than observances of forms, often at the expense of truth, she probably ran into an error common toinnovators, in wishing to do immediately what can only be done by time. 

Many very cogent reasons have been urged by her friends to prove that heraffection for Struensee was never carried to the length alleged againsther by those who feared her influence. Be that as it may she certainlywas no a woman of gallantry, and if she had an attachment for him it didnot disgrace her heart or understanding, the king being a notoriousdebauchee and an idiot into the bargain. As the king's conduct hadalways been directed by some favourite, they also endeavoured to governhim, from a principle of self-preservation as well as a laudableambition; but, not aware of the prejudices they had to encounter, thesystem they adopted displayed more benevolence of heart than soundness ofjudgment. As to the charge, still believed, of their giving the Kingdrugs to injure his faculties, it is too absurd to be refuted. Theiroppressors had better have accused them of dabbling in the black art, forthe potent spell still keeps his wits in bondage. 

I cannot describe to you the effect it had on me to see this puppet of amonarch moved by the strings which Count Bernstorff holds fast; sit, withvacant eye, erect, receiving the homage of courtiers who mock him with ashow of respect. He is, in fact, merely a machine of state, to subscribethe name of a king to the acts of the Government, which, to avoid danger, have no value unless countersigned by the Prince Royal; for he is allowedto be absolutely aim idiot, excepting that now and then an observation ortrick escapes him, which looks more like madness than imbecility. 

What a farce is life. This effigy of majesty is allowed to burn down tothe socket, whilst the hapless Matilda was hurried into an untimelygrave. 

 "As flies to wanton boys, are we to the gods; They kill us for their sport. "

Adieu!

LETTER XIX. 

Business having obliged me to go a few miles out of town this morning Iwas surprised at meeting a crowd of people of every description, andinquiring the cause of a servant, who spoke French, I was informed that aman had been executed two hours before, and the body afterwards burnt. Icould not help looking with horror around--the fields lost theirverdure--and I turned with disgust from the well-dressed women who werereturning with their children from this sight. What a spectacle forhumanity! The seeing such a flock of idle gazers plunged me into a trainof reflections on the pernicious effects produced by false notions ofjustice. And I am persuaded that till capital punishments are entirelyabolished executions ought to have every appearance of horror given tothem, instead of being, as they are now, a scene of amusement for thegaping crowd, where sympathy is quickly effaced by curiosity. 

I have always been of opinion that the allowing actors to die in thepresence of the audience has an immoral tendency, but trifling whencompared with the ferocity acquired by viewing the reality as a show; forit seems to me that in all countries the common people go to executionsto see how the poor wretch plays his part, rather than to commiserate hisfate, much less to think of the breach of morality which has brought himto such a deplorable end. Consequently executions, far from being usefulexamples to the survivors, have, I am persuaded, a quite contrary effect, by hardening the heart they ought to terrify. Besides the fear of anignominious death, I believe, never deferred anyone from the commissionof a crime, because, in committing it, the mind is roused to activityabout present circumstances. It is a game at hazard, at which all expectthe turn of the die in their own favour, never reflecting on the chanceof ruin till it comes. In fact, from what I saw in the fortresses ofNorway, I am more and more convinced that the same energy of characterwhich renders a man a daring villain would have rendered him useful tosociety, had that society been well organised. When a strong mind is notdisciplined by cultivation it is a sense of injustice that renders itunjust. 

Executions, however, occur very rarely at Copenhagen; for timidity, rather than clemency, palsies all the operations of the presentGovernment. The malefactor who died this morning would not, probably, have been punished with death at any other period; but an incendiaryexcites universal execration; and as the greater part of the inhabitantsare still distressed by the late conflagration, an example was thoughtabsolutely necessary; though, from what I can gather, the fire wasaccidental. 

Not, but that I have very seriously been informed, that combustiblematerials were placed at proper distance, by the emissaries of Mr. Pitt;and, to corroborate the fact, many people insist that the flames burstout at once in different parts of the city; not allowing the wind to haveany hand in it. So much for the plot. But the fabricators of plots inall countries build their conjectures on the "baseless fabric of avision;" and it seems even a sort of poetical justice, that whilst thisMinister is crushing at home plots of his own conjuring up, on theContinent, and in the north, he should, with as little foundation, beaccused of wishing to set the world on fire. 

I forgot to mention to you, that I was informed, by a man of veracity, that two persons came to the stake to drink a glass of the criminal'sblood, as an infallible remedy for the apoplexy. And when I animadvertedin the company, where it was mentioned, on such a horrible violation ofnature, a Danish lady reproved me very severely, asking how I knew thatit was not a cure for the disease? adding, that every attempt wasjustifiable in search of health. I did not, you may imagine, enter intoan argument with a person the slave of such a gross prejudice. And Iallude to it not only as a trait of the ignorance of the people, but tocensure the Government for not preventing scenes that throw an odium onthe human race. 

Empiricism is not peculiar to Denmark; and I know no way of rooting itout, though it be a remnant of exploded witchcraft, till the acquiring ageneral knowledge of the component parts of the human frame becomes apart of public education. 

Since the fire, the inhabitants have been very assiduously employed insearching for property secreted during the confusion; and it isastonishing how many people, formerly termed reputable, had availedthemselves of the common calamity to purloin what the flames spared. Others, expert at making a distinction without a difference, concealedwhat they found, not troubling themselves to inquire for the owners, though they scrupled to search for plunder anywhere, but amongst theruins. 

To be honester than the laws require is by most people thought a work ofsupererogation; and to slip through the grate of the law has everexercised the abilities of adventurers, who wish to get rich the shortestway. Knavery without personal danger is an art brought to greatperfection by the statesman and swindler; and meaner knaves are not tardyin following their footsteps. 

It moves my gall to discover some of the commercial frauds practisedduring the present war. In short, under whatever point of view Iconsider society, it appears to me that an adoration of property is theroot of all evil. Here it does not render the people enterprising, as inAmerica, but thrifty and cautious. I never, therefore, was in a capitalwhere there was so little appearance of active industry; and as forgaiety, I looked in vain for the sprightly gait of the Norwegians, who inevery respect appear to me to have got the start of them. Thisdifference I attribute to their having more liberty--a liberty which theythink their right by inheritance, whilst the Danes, when they boast oftheir negative happiness, always mention it as the boon of the PrinceRoyal, under the superintending wisdom of Count Bernstorff. Vassalage isnevertheless ceasing throughout the kingdom, and with it will pass awaythat sordid avarice which every modification of slavery is calculated toproduce. 

If the chief use of property be power, in the shape of the respect itprocures, is it not among the inconsistencies of human nature mostincomprehensible, that men should find a pleasure in hoarding up propertywhich they steal from their necessities, even when they are convincedthat it would be dangerous to display such an enviable superiority? Isnot this the situation of serfs in every country. Yet a rapacity toaccumulate money seems to become stronger in proportion as it is allowedto be useless. 

Wealth does not appear to be sought for amongst the Danes, to obtain theexcellent luxuries of life, for a want of taste is very conspicuous atCopenhagen; so much so that I am not surprised to hear that poor Matildaoffended the rigid Lutherans by aiming to refine their pleasures. Theelegance which she wished to introduce was termed lasciviousness; yet Ido not find that the absence of gallantry renders the wives more chaste, or the husbands more constant. Love here seems to corrupt the moralswithout polishing the manners, by banishing confidence and truth, thecharm as well as cement of domestic life. A gentleman, who has residedin this city some time, assures me that he could not find language togive me an idea of the gross debaucheries into which the lower order ofpeople fall; and the promiscuous amours of the men of the middling classwith their female servants debase both beyond measure, weakening everyspecies of family affection. 

I have everywhere been struck by one characteristic difference in theconduct of the two sexes; women, in general, are seduced by theirsuperiors, and men jilted by their inferiors: rank and manners awe theone, and cunning and wantonness subjugate the other; ambition creepinginto the woman's passion, and tyranny giving force to the man's, for mostmen treat their mistresses as kings do their favourites: _ergo_ is notman then the tyrant of the creation?

Still harping on the same subject, you will exclaim--How can I avoid it, when most of the struggles of an eventful life have been occasioned bythe oppressed state of my sex? We reason deeply when we feel forcibly. 

But to return to the straight road of observation. The sensuality soprevalent appears to me to arise rather from indolence of mind and dullsenses, than from an exuberance of life, which often fructifies the wholecharacter when the vivacity of youthful spirits begins to subside intostrength of mind. 

I have before mentioned that the men are domestic tyrants, consideringthem as fathers, brothers, or husbands; but there is a kind ofinterregnum between the reign of the father and husband which is the onlyperiod of freedom and pleasure that the women enjoy. Young people whoare attached to each other, with the consent of their friends, exchangerings, and are permitted to enjoy a degree of liberty together which Ihave never noticed in any other country. The days of courtship are, therefore, prolonged till it be perfectly convenient to marry: theintimacy often becomes very tender; and if the lover obtain the privilegeof a husband, it can only be termed half by stealth, because the familyis wilfully blind. It happens very rarely that these honoraryengagements are dissolved or disregarded, a stigma being attached to abreach of faith which is thought more disgraceful, if not so criminal, asthe violation of the marriage-vow. 

Do not forget that, in my general observations, I do not pretend tosketch a national character, but merely to note the present state ofmorals and manners as I trace the progress of the world's improvement. Because, during my residence in different countries, my principal objecthas been to take such a dispassionate view of men as will lead me to forma just idea of the nature of man. And, to deal ingenuously with you, Ibelieve I should have been less severe in the remarks I have made on thevanity and depravity of the French, had I travelled towards the northbefore I visited France. 

The interesting picture frequently drawn of the virtues of a risingpeople has, I fear, been fallacious, excepting the accounts of theenthusiasm which various public struggles have produced. We talk of thedepravity of the French, and lay a stress on the old age of the nation;yet where has more virtuous enthusiasm been displayed than during the twolast years by the common people of France, and in their armies? I amobliged sometimes to recollect the numberless instances which I haveeither witnessed, or heard well authenticated, to balance the account ofhorrors, alas! but too true. I am, therefore, inclined to believe thatthe gross vices which I have always seem allied with simplicity ofmanners, are the concomitants of ignorance. 

What, for example, has piety, under the heathen or Christian system, been, but a blind faith in things contrary to the principles of reason?And could poor reason make considerable advances when it was reckoned thehighest degree of virtue to do violence to its dictates? Lutherans, preaching reformation, have built a reputation for sanctity on the samefoundation as the Catholics; yet I do not perceive that a regularattendance on public worship, and their other observances, make them awhit more true in their affections, or honest in their privatetransactions. It seems, indeed, quite as easy to prevaricate withreligious injunctions as human laws, when the exercise of their reasondoes not lead people to acquire principles for themselves to be thecriterion of all those they receive from others. 

If travelling, as the completion of a liberal education, were to beadopted on rational grounds, the northern states ought to be visitedbefore the more polished parts of Europe, to serve as the elements evenof the knowledge of manners, only to be acquired by tracing the variousshades in different countries. But, when visiting distant climes, amomentary social sympathy should not be allowed to influence theconclusions of the understanding, for hospitality too frequently leadstravellers, especially those who travel in search of pleasure, to make afalse estimate of the virtues of a nation, which, I am now convinced, bear an exact proportion to their scientific improvements. 

Adieu. 

LETTER XX. 

I have formerly censured the French for their extreme attachment totheatrical exhibitions, because I thought that they tended to render themvain and unnatural characters; but I must acknowledge, especially aswomen of the town never appear in the Parisian as at our theatres, thatthe little saving of the week is more usefully expended there everySunday than in porter or brandy, to intoxicate or stupify the mind. Thecommon people of France have a great superiority over that class in everyother country on this very score. It is merely the sobriety of theParisians which renders their fetes more interesting, their gaiety neverbecoming disgusting or dangerous, as is always the case when liquorcirculates. Intoxication is the pleasure of savages, and of all thosewhose employments rather exhaust their animal spirits than exercise theirfaculties. Is not this, in fact, the vice, both in England and thenorthern states of Europe, which appears to be the greatest impediment togeneral improvement? Drinking is here the principal relaxation of themen, including smoking, but the women are very abstemious, though theyhave no public amusements as a substitute. I ought to except onetheatre, which appears more than is necessary; for when I was there itwas not half full, and neither the ladies nor actresses displayed muchfancy in their dress. 

The play was founded on the story of the "Mock Doctor;" and, from thegestures of the servants, who were the best actors, I should imaginecontained some humour. The farce, termed ballet, was a kind ofpantomime, the childish incidents of which were sufficient to show thestate of the dramatic art in Denmark, and the gross taste of theaudience. A magician, in the disguise of a tinker, enters a cottagewhere the women are all busy ironing, and rubs a dirty frying-pan againstthe linen. The women raise a hue-and-cry, and dance after him, rousingtheir husbands, who join in the dance, but get the start of them in thepursuit. The tinker, with the frying-pan for a shield, renders themimmovable, and blacks their cheeks. Each laughs at the other, unconscious of his own appearance; meanwhile the women enter to enjoy thesport, "the rare fun, " with other incidents of the same species. 

The singing was much on a par with the dancing, the one as destitute ofgrace as the other of expression; but the orchestra was well filled, theinstrumental being far superior to the vocal music. 

I have likewise visited the public library and museum, as well as thepalace of Rosembourg. This palace, now deserted, displays a gloomy kindof grandeur throughout, for the silence of spacious apartments alwaysmakes itself to be felt; I at least feel it, and I listen for the soundof my footsteps as I have done at midnight to the ticking of the death-watch, encouraging a kind of fanciful superstition. Every object carriedme back to past times, and impressed the manners of the age forcibly onmy mind. In this point of view the preservation of old palaces and theirtarnished furniture is useful, for they may be considered as historicaldocuments. 

The vacuum left by departed greatness was everywhere observable, whilstthe battles and processions portrayed on the walls told you who had hereexcited revelry after retiring from slaughter, or dismissed pageantry insearch of pleasure. It seemed a vast tomb full of the shadowy phantomsof those who had played or toiled their hour out and sunk behind thetapestry which celebrated the conquests of love or war. Could they be nomore--to whom my imagination thus gave life? Could the thoughts, ofwhich there remained so many vestiges, have vanished quite away? Andthese beings, composed of such noble materials of thinking and feeling, have they only melted into the elements to keep in motion the grand massof life? It cannot be!--as easily could I believe that the large silverlions at the top of the banqueting room thought and reasoned. Butavaunt! ye waking dreams! yet I cannot describe the curiosities to you. 

There were cabinets full of baubles and gems, and swords which must havebeen wielded by giant's hand. The coronation ornaments wait quietly heretill wanted, and the wardrobe exhibits the vestments which formerlygraced these shows. It is a pity they do not lend them to the actors, instead of allowing them to perish ingloriously. 

I have not visited any other palace, excepting Hirsholm, the gardens ofwhich are laid out with taste, and command the finest views the countryaffords. As they are in the modern and English style, I thought I wasfollowing the footsteps of Matilda, who wished to multiply around her theimages of her beloved country. I was also gratified by the sight of aNorwegian landscape in miniature, which with great propriety makes a partof the Danish King's garden. The cottage is well imitated, and the wholehas a pleasing effect, particularly so to me who love Norway--itspeaceful farms and spacious wilds. 

The public library consists of a collection much larger than I expectedto see; and it is well arranged. Of the value of the Icelandicmanuscripts I could not form a judgment, though the alphabet of some ofthem amused me, by showing what immense labour men will submit to, inorder to transmit their ideas to posterity. I have sometimes thought ita great misfortune for individuals to acquire a certain delicacy ofsentiment, which often makes them weary of the common occurrences oflife; yet it is this very delicacy of feeling and thinking which probablyhas produced most of the performances that have benefited mankind. Itmight with propriety, perhaps, be termed the malady of genius; the causeof that characteristic melancholy which "grows with its growth, andstrengthens with its strength. "

There are some good pictures in the royal museum. Do not start, I am notgoing to trouble you with a dull catalogue, or stupid criticisms onmasters to whom time has assigned their just niche in the temple of fame;had there been any by living artists of this country, I should havenoticed them, as making a part of the sketches I am drawing of thepresent state of the place. The good pictures were mixedindiscriminately with the bad ones, in order to assort the frames. Thesame fault is conspicuous in the new splendid gallery forming at Paris;though it seems an obvious thought that a school for artists ought to bearranged in such a manner, as to show the progressive discoveries andimprovements in the art. 

A collection of the dresses, arms, and implements of the Laplandersattracted my attention, displaying that first species of ingenuity whichis rather a proof of patient perseverance, than comprehension of mind. The specimens of natural history, and curiosities of art, were likewisehuddled together without that scientific order which alone renders themuseful; but this may partly have been occasioned by the hasty manner inwhich they were removed from the palace when in flames. 

There are some respectable men of science here, but few literarycharacters, and fewer artists. They want encouragement, and willcontinue, I fear, from the present appearance of things, to languishunnoticed a long time; for neither the vanity of wealth, nor theenterprising spirit of commerce, has yet thrown a glance that way. 

Besides, the Prince Royal, determined to be economical, almost descendsto parsimony; and perhaps depresses his subjects, by labouring not tooppress them; for his intentions always seem to be good--yet nothing cangive a more forcible idea of the dulness which eats away all activity ofmind, than the insipid routine of a court, without magnificence orelegance. 

The Prince, from what I can now collect, has very moderate abilities; yetis so well disposed, that Count Bernstorff finds him as tractable as hecould wish; for I consider the Count as the real sovereign, scarcelybehind the curtain; the Prince having none of that obstinateself-sufficiency of youth, so often the forerunner of decision ofcharacter. He and the Princess his wife, dine every day with the King, to save the expense of two tables. What a mummery it must be to treat asa king a being who has lost the majesty of man! But even CountBernstorff's morality submits to this standing imposition; and he availshimself of it sometimes, to soften a refusal of his own, by saying it isthe _will_ of the King, my master, when everybody knows that he hasneither will nor memory. Much the same use is made of him as, I haveobserved, some termagant wives make of their husbands; they would dwellon the necessity of obeying their husbands, poor passive souls, who neverwere allowed _to will_, when they wanted to conceal their own tyranny. 

A story is told here of the King's formerly making a dog counsellor ofstate, because when the dog, accustomed to eat at the royal table, snatched a piece of meat off an old officer's plate, he reproved himjocosely, saying that he, _monsieur le chien_, had not the privilege ofdining with his majesty, a privilege annexed to this distinction. 

The burning of the palace was, in fact, a fortunate circumstance, as itafforded a pretext for reducing the establishment of the household, whichwas far too great for the revenue of the Crown. The Prince Royal, atpresent, runs into the opposite extreme; and the formality, if not theparsimony, of the court, seems to extend to all the other branches ofsociety, which I had an opportunity of observing; though hospitalitystill characterises their intercourse with strangers. 

But let me now stop; I may be a little partial, and view everything withthe jaundiced eye of melancholy--for I am sad--and have cause. 

God bless you!

LETTER XXI. 

I have seen Count Bernstorff; and his conversation confirms me in theopinion I had previously formed of him; I mean, since my arrival atCopenhagen. He is a worthy man, a little vain of his virtue _a la_Necker; and more anxious not to do wrong, that is to avoid blame, thandesirous of doing good; especially if any particular good demands achange. Prudence, in short, seems to be the basis of his character; and, from the tenor of the Government, I should think inclining to thatcautious circumspection which treads on the heels of timidity. He hasconsiderable information, and some finesse; or he could not be aMinister. Determined not to risk his popularity, for he is tenderlycareful of his reputation, he will never gloriously fail like Struensee, or disturb, with the energy of genius, the stagnant state of the publicmind. 

I suppose that Lavater, whom he invited to visit him two years ago--somesay to fix the principles of the Christian religion firmly in the PrinceRoyal's mind, found lines in his face to prove him a statesman of thefirst order; because he has a knack at seeing a great character in thecountenances of men in exalted stations, who have noticed him or hisworks. Besides, the Count's sentiments relative to the FrenchRevolution, agreeing with Lavater's, must have ensured his applause. 

The Danes, in general, seem extremely averse to innovation, and ifhappiness only consist in opinion, they are the happiest people in theworld; for I never saw any so well satisfied with their own situation. Yet the climate appears to be very disagreeable, the weather being dryand sultry, or moist and cold; the atmosphere never having that sharp, bracing purity, which in Norway prepares you to brave its rigours. I donot hear the inhabitants of this place talk with delight of the winter, which is the constant theme of the Norwegians; on the contrary, they seemto dread its comfortless inclemency. 

The ramparts are pleasant, and must have been much more so before thefire, the walkers not being annoyed by the clouds of dust which, atpresent, the slightest wind wafts from the ruins. The windmills, and thecomfortable houses contiguous, belonging to the millers, as well as theappearance of the spacious barracks for the soldiers and sailors, tend torender this walk more agreeable. The view of the country has not much torecommend it to notice but its extent and cultivation: yet as the eyealways delights to dwell on verdant plains, especially when we areresident in a great city, these shady walks should be reckoned amongstthe advantages procured by the Government for the inhabitants. I likethem better than the Royal Gardens, also open to the public, because thelatter seem sunk in the heart of the city, to concentrate its fogs. 

The canals which intersect the streets are equally convenient andwholesome; but the view of the sea commanded by the town had little tointerest me whilst the remembrance of the various bold and picturesqueshores I had seen was fresh in my memory. Still the opulent inhabitants, who seldom go abroad, must find the spots were they fix their countryseats much pleasanter on account of the vicinity of the ocean. 

One of the best streets in Copenhagen is almost filled with hospitals, erected by the Government, and, I am assured, as well regulated asinstitutions of this kind are in any country; but whether hospitals orworkhouses are anywhere superintended with sufficient humanity I havefrequently had reason to doubt. 

The autumn is so uncommonly fine that I am unwilling to put off myjourney to Hamburg much longer, lest the weather should alter suddenly, and the chilly harbingers of winter catch me here, where I have nothingnow to detain me but the hospitality of the families to whom I hadrecommendatory letters. I lodged at an hotel situated in a large opensquare, where the troops exercise and the market is kept. My apartmentswere very good; and on account of the fire I was told that I should becharged very high; yet, paying my bill just now, I find the demands muchlower in proportion than in Norway, though my dinners were in everyrespect better. 

I have remained more at home since I arrived at Copenhagen than I oughtto have done in a strange place, but the mind is not always equallyactive in search of information, and my oppressed heart too often sighsout--

 "How dull, flat, and unprofitable Are to me all the usages of this world: That it should come to this!"

Farewell! Fare thee well, I say; if thou canst, repeat the adieu in adifferent tone. 

LETTER XXII. 

I arrived at Corsoer the night after I quitted Copenhagen, purposing totake my passage across the Great Belt the next morning, though theweather was rather boisterous. It is about four-and-twenty miles but asboth I and my little girl are never attacked by sea-sickness--though whocan avoid _ennui_?--I enter a boat with the same indifference as I changehorses; and as for danger, come when it may, I dread it not sufficientlyto have any anticipating fears. 

The road from Copenhagen was very good, through an open, flat countrythat had little to recommend it to notice excepting the cultivation, which gratified my heart more than my eye. 

I took a barge with a German baron who was hastening back from a tourinto Denmark, alarmed by the intelligence of the French having passed theRhine. His conversation beguiled the time, and gave a sort of stimulusto my spirits, which had been growing more and more languid ever since myreturn to Gothenburg; you know why. I had often endeavoured to rousemyself to observation by reflecting that I was passing through sceneswhich I should probably never see again, and consequently ought not toomit observing. Still I fell into reveries, thinking, by way of excuse, that enlargement of mind and refined feelings are of little use but tobarb the arrows of sorrow which waylay us everywhere, eluding thesagacity of wisdom and rendering principles unavailing, if considered asa breastwork to secure our own hearts. 

Though we had not a direct wind, we were not detained more than threehours and a half on the water, just long enough to give us an appetitefor our dinner. 

We travelled the remainder of the day and the following night in companywith the same party, the German gentleman whom I have mentioned, hisfriend, and servant. The meetings at the post-houses were pleasant tome, who usually heard nothing but strange tongues around me. Margueriteand the child often fell asleep, and when they were awake I might stillreckon myself alone, as our train of thoughts had nothing in common. Marguerite, it is true, was much amused by the costume of the women, particularly by the pannier which adorned both their heads and tails, andwith great glee recounted to me the stories she had treasured up for herfamily when once more within the barriers of dear Paris, not forgetting, with that arch, agreeable vanity peculiar to the French, which theyexhibit whilst half ridiculing it, to remind me of the importance sheshould assume when she informed her friends of all her journeys by seaand land, showing the pieces of money she had collected, and stammeringout a few foreign phrases, which she repeated in a true Parisian accent. Happy thoughtlessness! ay, and enviable harmless vanity, which thusproduced a _gaite du coeur_ worth all my philosophy!

The man I had hired at Copenhagen advised me to go round about twentymiles to avoid passing the Little Belt excepting by a ferry, as the windwas contrary. But the gentlemen overruled his arguments, which we wereall very sorry for afterwards, when we found ourselves becalmed on theLittle Belt ten hours, tacking about without ceasing, to gain the shore. 

An oversight likewise made the passage appear much more tedious, nay, almost insupportable. When I went on board at the Great Belt, I hadprovided refreshments in case of detention, which remaining untouched Ithought not then any such precaution necessary for the second passage, misled by the epithet of "little, " though I have since been informed thatit is frequently the longest. This mistake occasioned much vexation; forthe child, at last, began to cry so bitterly for bread, that fancyconjured up before me the wretched Ugolino, with his famished children;and I, literally speaking, enveloped myself in sympathetic horrors, augmented by every fear my babe shed, from which I could not escape tillwe landed, and a luncheon of bread and basin of milk routed the spectresof fancy. 

I then supped with my companions, with whom I was soon after to part forever--always a most melancholy death-like idea--a sort of separation ofsoul; for all the regret which follows those from whom fate separates usseems to be something torn from ourselves. These were strangers Iremember; yet when there is any originality in a countenance, it takesits place in our memory, and we are sorry to lose an acquaintance themoment he begins to interest us, through picked up on the highway. Therewas, in fact, a degree of intelligence, and still more sensibility, inthe features and conversation of one of the gentlemen, that made meregret the loss of his society during the rest of the journey; for he wascompelled to travel post, by his desire to reach his estate before thearrival of the French. 

This was a comfortable inn, as were several others I stopped at; but theheavy sandy roads were very fatiguing, after the fine ones we had latelyskimmed over both in Sweden and Denmark. The country resembled the mostopen part of England--laid out for corn rather than grazing. It waspleasant, yet there was little in the prospects to awaken curiosity, bydisplaying the peculiar characteristics of a new country, which had sofrequently stole me from myself in Norway. We often passed over largeunenclosed tracts, not graced with trees, or at least very sparinglyenlivened by them, and the half-formed roads seemed to demand thelandmarks, set up in the waste, to prevent the traveller from strayingfar out of his way, and plodding through the wearisome sand. 

The heaths were dreary, and had none of the wild charms of those ofSweden and Norway to cheat time; neither the terrific rocks, nor smilingherbage grateful to the sight and scented from afar, made us forget theirlength. Still the country appeared much more populous, and the towns, ifnot the farmhouses, were superior to those of Norway. I even thoughtthat the inhabitants of the former had more intelligence--at least, I amsure they had more vivacity in their countenances than I had seen duringmy northern tour: their senses seemed awake to business and pleasure. Iwas therefore gratified by hearing once more the busy hum of industriousmen in the day, and the exhilarating sounds of joy in the evening; for, as the weather was still fine, the women and children were amusingthemselves at their doors, or walking under the trees, which in manyplaces were planted in the streets; and as most of the towns of any notewere situated on little bays or branches of the Baltic, their appearanceas we approached was often very picturesque, and, when we entered, displayed the comfort and cleanliness of easy, if not the elegance ofopulent, circumstances. But the cheerfulness of the people in thestreets was particularly grateful to me, after having been depressed bythe deathlike silence of those of Denmark, where every house made methink of a tomb. The dress of the peasantry is suited to the climate; inshort, none of that poverty and dirt appeared, at the sight of which theheart sickens. 

As I only stopped to change horses, take refreshment, and sleep, I hadnot an opportunity of knowing more of the country than conclusions whichthe information gathered by my eyes enabled me to draw, and that wassufficient to convince me that I should much rather have lived in some ofthe towns I now pass through than in any I had seen in Sweden or Denmark. The people struck me as having arrived at that period when the facultieswill unfold themselves; in short; they look alive to improvement, neithercongealed by indolence, nor bent down by wretchedness to servility. 

From the previous impression--I scarcely can trace whence I received it--Iwas agreeably surprised to perceive such an appearance of comfort in thispart of Germany. I had formed a conception of the tyranny of the pettypotentates that had thrown a gloomy veil over the face of the wholecountry in my imagination, that cleared away like the darkness of nightbefore the sun as I saw the reality. I should probably have discoveredmuch lurking misery, the consequence of ignorant oppression, no doubt, had I had time to inquire into particulars; but it did not stalk abroadand infect the surface over which my eye glanced. Yes, I am persuadedthat a considerable degree of general knowledge pervades this country, for it is only from the exercise of the mind that the body acquires theactivity from which I drew these inferences. Indeed, the King ofDenmark's German dominions--Holstein--appeared to me far superior to anyother part of his kingdom which had fallen under my view; and the robustrustics to have their muscles braced, instead of the, as it were, loungeof the Danish peasantry. 

Arriving at Sleswick, the residence of Prince Charles of Hesse-Cassel, the sight of the soldiers recalled all the unpleasing ideas of Germandespotism, which imperceptibly vanished as I advanced into the country. Iviewed, with a mixture of pity and horror, these beings training to besold to slaughter, or be slaughtered, and fell into reflections on an oldopinion of mine, that it is the preservation of the species, not ofindividuals, which appears to be the design of the Deity throughout thewhole of Nature. Blossoms come forth only to be blighted; fish lay theirspawn where it will be devoured; and what a large portion of the humanrace are born merely to be swept prematurely away! Does not this wasteof budding life emphatically assert that it is not men, but Man, whosepreservation is so necessary to the completion of the grand plan of theuniverse? Children peep into existence, suffer, and die; men play likemoths about a candle, and sink into the flame; war, and "the thousandills which flesh is heir to, " mow them down in shoals; whilst the morecruel prejudices of society palsy existence, introducing not less surethough slower decay. 

The castle was heavy and gloomy, yet the grounds about it were laid outwith some taste; a walk, winding under the shade of lofty trees, led to aregularly built and animated town. 

I crossed the drawbridge, and entered to see this shell of a court inminiature, mounting ponderous stairs--it would be a solecism to say aflight--up which a regiment of men might have marched, shouldering theirfirelocks to exercise in vast galleries, where all the generations of thePrinces of Hesse-Cassel might have been mustered rank and file, thoughnot the phantoms of all the wretched they had bartered to support theirstate, unless these airy substances could shrink and expand, likeMilton's devils, to suit the occasion. 

The sight of the presence-chamber, and of the canopy to shade thefauteuil which aped a throne, made me smile. All the world is a stage, thought I; and few are there in it who do not play the part they havelearnt by rote; and those who do not, seem marks set up to be pelted atby fortune, or rather as sign-posts which point out the road to others, whilst forced to stand still themselves amidst the mud and dust. 

Waiting for our horses, we were amused by observing the dress of thewomen, which was very grotesque and unwieldy. The false notion of beautywhich prevails here as well as in Denmark, I should think veryinconvenient in summer, as it consists in giving a rotundity to a certainpart of the body, not the most slim, when Nature has done her part. ThisDutch prejudice often leads them to toil under the weight of some ten ora dozen petticoats, which, with an enormous basket, literally speaking, as a bonnet, or a straw hat of dimensions equally gigantic, almostcompletely conceal the human form as well as face divine, often worthshowing; still they looked clean, and tripped along, as it were, beforethe wind, with a weight of tackle that I could scarcely have lifted. Manyof the country girls I met appeared to me pretty--that is, to have finecomplexions, sparkling eyes, and a kind of arch, hoyden playfulness whichdistinguishes the village coquette. The swains, in their Sunday trim, attended some of these fair ones in a more slouching pace, though theirdress was not so cumbersome. The women seem to take the lead inpolishing the manners everywhere, this being the only way to better theircondition. 

From what I have seen throughout my journey, I do not think the situationof the poor in England is much, if at all, superior to that of the sameclass in different parts of the world; and in Ireland I am sure it ismuch inferior. I allude to the former state of England; for at presentthe accumulation of national wealth only increases the cares of the poor, and hardens the hearts of the rich, in spite of the highly extolled ragefor almsgiving. 

You know that I have always been an enemy to what is termed charity, because timid bigots, endeavouring thus to cover their sins, do violenceto justice, till, acting the demigod, they forget that they are men. Andthere are others who do not even think of laying up a treasure in heaven, whose benevolence is merely tyranny in disguise; they assist the mostworthless, because the most servile, and term them helpless only inproportion to their fawning. 

After leaving Sleswick, we passed through several pretty towns; Itzcholparticularly pleased me; and the country, still wearing the same aspect, was improved by the appearance of more trees and enclosures. But whatgratified me most was the population. I was weary of travelling four orfive hours, never meeting a carriage, and scarcely a peasant; and then tostop at such wretched huts as I had seen in Sweden was surely sufficientto chill any heart awake to sympathy, and throw a gloom over my favouritesubject of contemplation, the future improvement of the world. 

The farmhouses, likewise, with the huge stables, into which we drovewhilst the horses were putting to or baiting, were very clean andcommodious. The rooms, with a door into this hall-like stable andstorehouse in one, were decent; and there was a compactness in theappearance of the whole family lying thus snugly together under the sameroof that carried my fancy back to the primitive times, which probablynever existed with such a golden lustre as the animated imagination lendswhen only able to seize the prominent features. 

At one of them, a pretty young woman, with languishing eyes of celestialblue, conducted us into a very neat parlour, and observing how looselyand lightly my little girl was clad, began to pity her in the sweetestaccents, regardless of the rosy down of health on her cheeks. This samedamsel was dressed--it was Sunday--with taste and even coquetry, in acotton jacket, ornamented with knots of blue ribbon, fancifully disposedto give life to her fine complexion. I loitered a little to admire her, for every gesture was graceful; and, amidst the other villagers, shelooked like a garden lily suddenly rearing its head amongst grain andcorn-flowers. As the house was small, I gave her a piece of money ratherlarger than it was my custom to give to the female waiters--for I couldnot prevail on her to sit down--which she received with a smile; yet tookcare to give it, in my presence, to a girl who had brought the child aslice of bread; by which I perceived that she was the mistress ordaughter of the house, and without doubt the belle of the village. Therewas, in short, an appearance of cheerful industry, and of that degree ofcomfort which shut out misery, in all the little hamlets as I approachedHamburg, which agreeably surprised me. 

The short jackets which the women wear here, as well as in France, arenot only more becoming to the person, but much better calculated forwomen who have rustic or household employments than the long gowns wornin England, dangling in the dirt. 

All the inns on the road were better than I expected, though the softnessof the beds still harassed me, and prevented my finding the rest I wasfrequently in want of, to enable me to bear the fatigue of the next day. The charges were moderate, and the people very civil, with a certainhonest hilarity and independent spirit in their manner, which almost mademe forget that they were innkeepers, a set of men--waiters, hostesses, chambermaids, &c. , down to the ostler, whose cunning servility in EnglandI think particularly disgusting. 

The prospect of Hamburg at a distance, as well as the fine road shadedwith trees, led me to expect to see a much pleasanter city than I found. 

I was aware of the difficulty of obtaining lodgings, even at the inns, onaccount of the concourse of strangers at present resorting to such acentrical situation, and determined to go to Altona the next day to seekfor an abode, wanting now only rest. But even for a single night we weresent from house to house, and found at last a vacant room to sleep in, which I should have turned from with disgust had there been a choice. 

I scarcely know anything that produces more disagreeable sensations, Imean to speak of the passing cares, the recollection of which afterwardsenlivens our enjoyments, than those excited by little disasters of thiskind. After a long journey, with our eyes directed to some particularspot, to arrive and find nothing as it should be is vexatious, and sinksthe agitated spirits. But I, who received the cruellest ofdisappointments last spring in returning to my home, term such as theseemphatically passing cares. Know you of what materials some hearts aremade? I play the child, and weep at the recollection--for the grief isstill fresh that stunned as well as wounded me--yet never did drops ofanguish like these bedew the cheeks of infantine innocence--and whyshould they mine, that never was stained by a blush of guilt? Innocentand credulous as a child, why have I not the same happy thoughtlessness?Adieu!

LETTER XXIII. 

I might have spared myself the disagreeable feelings I experienced thefirst night of my arrival at Hamburg, leaving the open air to be shut upin noise and dirt, had I gone immediately to Altona, where a lodging hadbeen prepared for me by a gentleman from whom I received many civilitiesduring my journey. I wished to have travelled in company with him fromCopenhagen, because I found him intelligent and friendly, but businessobliged him to hurry forward, and I wrote to him on the subject ofaccommodations as soon as I was informed of the difficulties I might haveto encounter to house myself and brat. 

It is but a short and pleasant walk from Hamburg to Altona, under theshade of several rows of trees, and this walk is the more agreeable afterquitting the rough pavement of either place. 

Hamburg is an ill, close-built town, swarming with inhabitants, and, fromwhat I could learn, like all the other free towns, governed in a mannerwhich bears hard on the poor, whilst narrowing the minds of the rich; thecharacter of the man is lost in the Hamburger. Always afraid of theencroachments of their Danish neighbours, that is, anxiously apprehensiveof their sharing the golden harvest of commerce with them, or taking alittle of the trade off their hands--though they have more than they knowwhat to do with--they are ever on the watch, till their very eyes loseall expression, excepting the prying glance of suspicion. 

The gates of Hamburg are shut at seven in the winter and nine in thesummer, lest some strangers, who come to traffic in Hamburg, shouldprefer living, and consequently--so exactly do they calculate--spendtheir money out of the walls of the Hamburger's world. Immense fortuneshave been acquired by the per-cents. Arising from commissions nominallyonly two and a half, but mounted to eight or ten at least by the secretmanoeuvres of trade, not to include the advantage of purchasing goodswholesale in common with contractors, and that of having so much moneyleft in their hands, not to play with, I can assure you. Mushroomfortunes have started up during the war; the men, indeed, seem of thespecies of the fungus, and the insolent vulgarity which a sudden influxof wealth usually produces in common minds is here very conspicuous, which contrasts with the distresses of many of the emigrants, "fallen, fallen from their high estate, " such are the ups and downs of fortune'swheel. Many emigrants have met, with fortitude, such a total change ofcircumstances as scarcely can be paralleled, retiring from a palace to anobscure lodging with dignity; but the greater number glide about, theghosts of greatness, with the _Croix de St. Louis_ ostentatiouslydisplayed, determined to hope, "though heaven and earth their wishescrossed. " Still good breeding points out the gentleman, and sentimentsof honour and delicacy appear the offspring of greatness of soul whencompared with the grovelling views of the sordid accumulators of cent. Per cent. 

Situation seems to be the mould in which men's characters are formed: somuch so, inferring from what I have lately seen, that I mean not to besevere when I add--previously asking why priests are in general cunningand statesmen false?--that men entirely devoted to commerce never acquireor lose all taste and greatness of mind. An ostentatious display ofwealth without elegance, and a greedy enjoyment of pleasure withoutsentiment, embrutes them till they term all virtue of an heroic cast, romantic attempts at something above our nature, and anxiety about thewelfare of others, a search after misery in which we have no concern. Butyou will say that I am growing bitter, perhaps personal. Ah! shall Iwhisper to you, that you yourself are strangely altered since you haveentered deeply into commerce--more than you are aware of; never allowingyourself to reflect, and keeping your mind, or rather passions, in acontinual state of agitation? Nature has given you talents which liedormant, or are wasted in ignoble pursuits. You will rouse yourself andshake off the vile dust that obscures you, or my understanding, as wellas my heart, deceives me egregiously--only tell me when. But to gofarther afield. 

Madame la Fayette left Altona the day I arrived, to endeavour, at Vienna, to obtain the enlargement of her husband, or permission to share hisprison. She lived in a lodging up two pairs of stairs, without aservant, her two daughters cheerfully assisting; choosing, as well asherself, to descend to anything before unnecessary obligations. Duringher prosperity, and consequent idleness, she did not, I am told, enjoy agood state of health, having a train of nervous complaints, which, thoughthey have not a name, unless the significant word _ennui_ be borrowed, had an existence in the higher French circles; but adversity and virtuousexertions put these ills to flight, and dispossessed her of a devil whodeserves the appellation of legion. 

Madame Genus also resided at Altona some time, under an assumed name, with many other sufferers of less note though higher rank. It is, infact, scarcely possible to stir out without meeting interestingcountenances, every lineament of which tells you that they have seenbetter days. 

At Hamburg, I was informed, a duke had entered into partnership with hiscook, who becoming a _traiteur_, they were both comfortably supported bythe profit arising from his industry. Many noble instances of theattachment of servants to their unfortunate masters have come to myknowledge, both here and in France, and touched my heart, the greatestdelight of which is to discover human virtue. 

At Altona, a president of one of the _ci-devant_ parliaments keeps anordinary, in the French style; and his wife with cheerful dignity submitsto her fate, though she is arrived at an age when people seldomrelinquish their prejudices. A girl who waits there brought a dozen_double louis d'or_ concealed in her clothes, at the risk of her life, from France, which she preserves lest sickness or any other distressshould overtake her mistress, "who, " she observed, "was not accustomed tohardships. " This house was particularly recommended to me by anacquaintance of yours, the author of the "American Farmer's Letters. " Igenerally dine in company with him: and the gentleman whom I have alreadymentioned is often diverted by our declamations against commerce, when wecompare notes respecting the characteristics of the Hamburgers. "Why, madam, " said he to me one day, "you will not meet with a man who has anycalf to his leg; body and soul, muscles and heart, are equally shrivelledup by a thirst of gain. There is nothing generous even in their youthfulpassions; profit is their only stimulus, and calculations the soleemployment of their faculties, unless we except some gross animalgratifications which, snatched at spare moments, tend still more todebase the character, because, though touched by his tricking wand, theyhave all the arts, without the wit, of the wing-footed god. "

Perhaps you may also think us too severe; but I must add that the more Isaw of the manners of Hamburg, the more was I confirmed in my opinionrelative to the baleful effect of extensive speculations on the moralcharacter. Men are strange machines; and their whole system of moralityis in general held together by one grand principle which loses its forcethe moment they allow themselves to break with impunity over the boundswhich secured their self-respect. A man ceases to love humanity, andthen individuals, as he advances in the chase after wealth; as oneclashes with his interest, the other with his pleasures: to business, asit is termed, everything must give way; nay, is sacrificed, and all theendearing charities of citizen, husband, father, brother, become emptynames. But--but what? Why, to snap the chain of thought, I must sayfarewell. Cassandra was not the only prophetess whose warning voice hasbeen disregarded. How much easier it is to meet with love in the worldthan affection!

Yours sincerely. 

LETTER XXIV. 

My lodgings at Altona are tolerably comfortable, though not in anyproportion to the price I pay; but, owing to the present circumstances, all the necessaries of life are here extravagantly dear. Considering itas a temporary residence, the chief inconvenience of which I am inclinedto complain is the rough streets that must be passed before Margueriteand the child can reach a level road. 

The views of the Elbe in the vicinity of the town are pleasant, particularly as the prospects here afford so little variety. I attemptedto descend, and walk close to the water's edge; but there was no path;and the smell of glue, hanging to dry, an extensive manufactory of whichis carried on close to the beach, I found extremely disagreeable. But tocommerce everything must give way; profit and profit are the onlyspeculations--"double--double, toil and trouble. " I have seldom entereda shady walk without being soon obliged to turn aside to make room forthe rope-makers; and the only tree I have seen, that appeared to beplanted by the hand of taste, is in the churchyard, to shade the tomb ofthe poet Klopstock's wife. 

Most of the merchants have country houses to retire to during the summer;and many of them are situated on the banks of the Elbe, where they havethe pleasure of seeing the packet-boats arrive--the periods of mostconsequence to divide their week. 

The moving picture, consisting of large vessels and small craft, whichare continually changing their position with the tide, renders this nobleriver, the vital stream of Hamburg, very interesting; and the windingshave sometimes a very fine effect, two or three turns being visible atonce, intersecting the flat meadows; a sudden bend often increasing themagnitude of the river; and the silvery expanse, scarcely gliding, thoughbearing on its bosom so much treasure, looks for a moment like a tranquillake. 

Nothing can be stronger than the contrast which this flat country andstrand afford, compared with the mountains and rocky coast I have latelydwelt so much among. In fancy I return to a favourite spot, where Iseemed to have retired from man and wretchedness; but the din of tradedrags me back to all the care I left behind, when lost in sublimeemotions. Rocks aspiring towards the heavens, and, as it were, shuttingout sorrow, surrounded me, whilst peace appeared to steal along the laketo calm my bosom, modulating the wind that agitated the neighbouringpoplars. Now I hear only an account of the tricks of trade, or listen tothe distressful tale of some victim of ambition. 

The hospitality of Hamburg is confined to Sunday invitations to thecountry houses I have mentioned, when dish after dish smokes upon theboard, and the conversation ever flowing in the muddy channel ofbusiness, it is not easy to obtain any appropriate information. Had Iintended to remain here some time, or had my mind been more alive togeneral inquiries, I should have endeavoured to have been introduced tosome characters not so entirely immersed in commercial affairs, though inthis whirlpool of gain it is not very easy to find any but the wretchedor supercilious emigrants, who are not engaged in pursuits which, in myeyes, appear as dishonourable as gambling. The interests of nations arebartered by speculating merchants. My God! with what _sang froid_ artfultrains of corruption bring lucrative commissions into particular hands, disregarding the relative situation of different countries, and can muchcommon honesty be expected in the discharge of trusts obtained by fraud?But this _entre nous_. 

During my present journey, and whilst residing in France, I have had anopportunity of peeping behind the scenes of what are vulgarly termedgreat affairs, only to discover the mean machinery which has directedmany transactions of moment. The sword has been merciful, compared withthe depredations made on human life by contractors and by the swarm oflocusts who have battened on the pestilence they spread abroad. Thesemen, like the owners of negro ships, never smell on their money the bloodby which it has been gained, but sleep quietly in their beds, termingsuch occupations lawful callings; yet the lightning marks not their roofsto thunder conviction on them "and to justify the ways of God to man. "

Why should I weep for myself? "Take, O world! thy much indebted tear!"Adieu!

LETTER XXV. 

There is a pretty little French theatre at Altona, and the actors aremuch superior to those I saw at Copenhagen. The theatres at Hamburg arenot open yet, but will very shortly, when the shutting of the gates atseven o'clock forces the citizens to quit their country houses. But, respecting Hamburg, I shall not be able to obtain much more information, as I have determined to sail with the first fair wind for England. 

The presence of the French army would have rendered my intended tourthrough Germany, in my way to Switzerland, almost impracticable, had notthe advancing season obliged me to alter my plan. Besides, thoughSwitzerland is the country which for several years I have beenparticularly desirous to visit, I do not feel inclined to ramble anyfarther this year; nay, I am weary of changing the scene, and quittingpeople and places the moment they begin to interest me. This also isvanity!

DOVER. 

I left this letter unfinished, as I was hurried on board, and now I haveonly to tell you that, at the sight of Dover cliffs, I wondered howanybody could term them grand; they appear so insignificant to me, afterthose I had seen in Sweden and Norway. 

Adieu! My spirit of observation seems to be fled, and I have beenwandering round this dirty place, literally speaking, to kill time, though the thoughts I would fain fly from lie too close to my heart to beeasily shook off, or even beguiled, by any employment, except that ofpreparing for my journey to London. 

God bless you!

MARY ----. 

APPENDIX. 

Private business and cares have frequently so absorbed me as to preventmy obtaining all the information during this journey which the novelty ofthe scenes would have afforded, had my attention been continually awaketo inquiry. This insensibility to present objects I have often hadoccasion to lament since I have been preparing these letters for thepress; but, as a person of any thought naturally considers the history ofa strange country to contrast the former with the present state of itsmanners, a conviction of the increasing knowledge and happiness of thekingdoms I passed through was perpetually the result of my comparativereflections. 

The poverty of the poor in Sweden renders the civilisation very partial, and slavery has retarded the improvement of every class in Denmark, yetboth are advancing; and the gigantic evils of despotism and anarchy havein a great measure vanished before the meliorating manners of Europe. Innumerable evils still remain, it is true, to afflict the humaneinvestigator, and hurry the benevolent reformer into a labyrinth oferror, who aims at destroying prejudices quickly which only time can rootout, as the public opinion becomes subject to reason. 

An ardent affection for the human race makes enthusiastic characterseager to produce alteration in laws and governments prematurely. Torender them useful and permanent, they must be the growth of eachparticular soil, and the gradual fruit of the ripening understanding ofthe nation, matured by time, not forced by an unnatural fermentation. And, to convince me that such a change is gaining ground withaccelerating pace, the view I have had of society during my northernjourney would have been sufficient had I not previously considered thegrand causes which combine to carry mankind forward and diminish the sumof human misery.